


We are all just hearts that have to fight

by dorky (dorcas_gustine)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-04-03 22:06:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 92,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14005836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorcas_gustine/pseuds/dorky
Summary: There are still hunters hiding in Beacon Hills and a new teacher might be involved. Liam takes it upon himself to look into it and he enlists Theo as his literal partner in crime.





	1. Where we stood, after the war

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I wanted to write a slightly plotty Thiam fic. But then the plotty part got in the driver’s seat and now there’s more than 20K of plot and no Thiam, yet. D: Why do I always do this? 
> 
> The fic is completely outlined, so despite being stupidly long it shouldn’t end up as an abandoned WIP. I’ll try to update every week, max, but I’m away for most of next month, so it might get a bit spotty at some point.
> 
>  **Note:** English isn’t my first language and this is sadly not beta-read. I’m a proofreader by trade and a grammar Nazi by nature and since I’m sure there are mistakes, please don’t hesitate to point them out to me. Concrit is always welcome as well! :)
> 
> The characters deal (or in most cases, don’t deal) with loss, trauma, PTSD and feelings, but there’s not much that gets too explicit, except for some violence, non-con drug use and some mild gore that’ll be clearly marked. Still, read at your own risk if that stuff isn’t your cup of tea. In any case, there shouldn’t be anything much worse than what’s already in the canon series.
> 
> Title from The Midnight's "River of Darkness".
> 
> Without YouTube’s suggestion algorithms keeping all the synthwave and 80s Japanese music mixes coming, this fic probably wouldn’t be here.
> 
> Here are some links if you’re interested in that kind of thing:  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZchkP43avXg)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfUskODsRJc)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzpeLAuC7kQ)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hd8Or1RrYs)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jECMuzD9BzQ)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpYS5ATpI-U)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuTf0oKgQxw)  
> [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhCb8Z4OQqc)

After the hospital - after _Gabe_ \- Theo makes himself scarce. Nothing new there, he did the same after the whole thing with the Ghost Riders and Mr. Douglas, fading out in the background while they were all busy reuniting with their loved ones and nursing their wounds.

Liam remembers the moment they realized he’d given them the slip, the brief panic and the following tense days, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the old, classic Theo to come back with his schemes and his thirst for power, or vengeance, or whatever.

Then Scott had got his phone out and called him, because Scott apparently had Theo’s number. And, really, when did Theo get a phone? Liam’s pretty sure reception in hell wasn’t all that good.

Turns out, Theo’s ‘evil and twisted schemes’ that day consisted of grocery shopping and doing some laundry later in the afternoon and would Scott like the name of the laundromat or could he be trusted not to kill anyone while washing his underwear?

After that Liam had pretty much forgot about Theo’s existence during the summer, spending most of his time with Hayden and then, after she left, spending most of his time trying not to think about Hayden. With the heartbreak and the responsibilities looming on the horizon as Scott was also preparing to leave, Liam really had no thought to spare for Theo’s preferred way of spending the day.

But that was then.

Now Liam too has Theo’s number — among his most contacted in the past few days, actually, but perhaps that’s more of a testament of how fucked up their lives are really than any real attachment between them.

Now they’ve fought and risked their lives and bled side by side.

Now there’s the Gabe thing.

Now, after the hugs with Mason and Corey and Melissa, after the awkward nod to Nolan, after the call to Scott and the others, Liam turns to check on Theo, but he’s not there. He follows the faint smell of blood from the chair where he was sitting only a couple of minutes ago so that Melissa could extract the bullet still lodged into his shoulder to the elevator, where it disappears altogether.

He then follows what is by now familiar as Theo’s scent to the lobby, to the doors from where a chain hangs and still swings faintly, a broken lock on the floor directly below it. He follows the scent outside, to the parking lot, but he’s late and the truck is gone, its engine roaring far away, the only sound in the night.

Theo’s gone and this time he’s noticed it, but once again too late it seems.

He doesn’t expect to see him ever again and the disappointment coloring that realization is both surprising and not at all.

Theo, while not evil — at least, not openly — like his pre-hell self, is still an asshole as far as he’s concerned. Abrasive and manipulative, though this time it’s mostly worked in their favor. And yet, he’s come through time and time again, he’s managed to ground Liam’s anger or at least redirect it towards himself when his mantra failed, he’s protected Mason at the best of his ability, he’s fought alongside Liam in a fight they couldn’t hope to win, despite stating his unwillingness to sacrifice himself. He’s destroyed the Dread Doctors’ research and asked nothing in return, when Scott asked.

There’s contradiction in his actions and in the way Liam feels whenever he happens to think about him.

Liam will miss him, after all, but the realization comes too late.

  


* * *

  


Liam’s heavily edited and mostly outright fabricated story of ‘Mason, Corey and I hid in a supply closet and were nowhere near the action at all. Really. I swear’ hasn’t done much to reassure his parents and he’s basically been under house arrest for the past two days.

His mother says it’s for his own good and that there are angry people with guns seeing monsters everywhere — that part is true, he admits in the privacy of his head — and Liam had better stay inside until the Police deem it safe and reopen the schools.

Somehow, the whole thing hasn’t even made to National news. Mason’s theory about there being supernaturals in key positions of power taking care to keep everything that happens in Beacon Hills under wraps seems more than a little plausible with every day that goes by.

Liam really needs to talk to his parents about the whole werewolf thing, but every time he thinks about it, he remembers how Melissa looked in the hospital bed and he remembers Scott’s face and keeps his mouth firmly shut.

By the third day, however, he’s gone so stir crazy that he begs his mother to give him something to do. After cleaning his room from top to bottom and rearranging his things in the garage, his mom is either moved to compassion or simply thinks he’s cracked and she’d better humor him before he too goes on a crazed rampage across town and so she takes him grocery shopping with her.

Even with the chaperone, he’s at least leaving his block and therefore he’s counting it as victory.

  


* * *

  


 

**To: Beacon Hills Finest ( & Liam)**   
_i’ve been released on parole  
17:35 _

**Mase**  
_Dramatic much?  
17:45 _

  


* * *

  


Mason too has been confined to house arrest, but he also has a boyfriend who turns invisible and can get into his house unseen while his parents are at work, so the past few days have essentially been an honeymoon for the two of them, really.

He needs a new best friend.

He texts as much to the group chat and then puts his phone away when his mom calls his name.

“What has that phone done to you, Liam?”

“Mason is shacking up with Corey and I’m under house arrest.”

His mom shoots a quick look his way, but it’s enough for him to see the worried frown. “You know I’m not punishing you. We just want to keep you safe.”

Liam thumps his head back against the headrest. In his pocket, the phone vibrates twice in a row. “I know, mom.”

“I don’t know what’s going on in this town,” she says, shaking her head. “No wonder house prices are so low for this area.” The last part is said quietly under her breath and Liam is pretty sure that he wouldn’t have heard it were it not for his superior hearing. The ensuing sigh is deep enough for human ears, though.

“Liam,” she starts, but stops abruptly.

He waits a moment, but nothing seems to be coming. His mother bites her bottom lip and she has a white, tight-knuckled grip on the wheel. He’s not good at deciphering chem signals like Scott is, but he can tell she’s pretty nervous even without that.

“...mom?” he tries.

She shoots a startled look at him, as if she’s forgotten he’s even there. “Liam,” she repeats. “Your father and I…We talked and…”

“Mom…”

“We think that maybe we could…”

“Mom!”

“We’re thinking of moving,” she says, finally, in a rushed breath.

Liam gapes at her.

“Leave Beacon Hills, I mean,” she continues.

“No.”

“You could look for a school with a good lacrosse team and—”

“No!”

“—your father could find a job somewhere else. We might not even have to go far—”

“Mom, no!” He’s yelling at her, now. He’s twisted around in his seat to face her, and he can feel the rush of blood in his ears, his heartbeat going crazy. There’s a growl in the back of his throat, clawing to get free and then his actual claws are out.

He sinks them in his calf and barely feels the sting of pain above the rage in him. There’s the smell of blood, pungent, and his ragged breathing. He mutters his mantra under his breath, but his head must still be jumbled by the Anuk-ite influence and it takes him even longer than usual to come down from it.

His mom is still talking. “—know that you have your friends here, but this town is dangerous,” she’s saying. “There were people with _guns_ in the hospital! You could have been hurt, your father could’ve been hurt!”

“But I wasn’t!” he exclaims, perhaps louder than he intended.

He looks away, to surreptitiously check his calf. His claws have left little bloody scratches that are healing as he looks on. At least he’s wearing shorts and the only damage he’s done was to himself. He’s running low on clothes and, while by now he’s an expert of bloody and tattered clothes without his parents noticing, he doesn’t really want to go shopping any time soon.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” he mutters. “But mom, all my friends are here! I can’t leave. This is my senior year, I have lacrosse!”

_Scott left me in charge_ , he doesn’t say.

They come to a stop in the parking lot, the car engine dies, but his mom hesitates before stepping out. She gives Liam a lingering look and Liam can smell a confusing mix of worry and love and protectiveness and something else he can’t quite decipher.

“We’ll talk about this later, okay?” She says.

He unbuckles his seatbelt and pushes out of the car.

Shopping is a silent and sullen affair, when it should have been his chance to enjoy the outside world. He pushes the cart reluctantly while his mom goes around grabbing stuff and filling it. She puts not one, but two boxes of his favorite breakfast cereal as well as a carton of the chocolate milk he used to love as kid and he can feel her looking at him from the corner of his eye. A peace offering.

He can’t leave Beacon Hills. It’s his responsibility. Scott left him in ch—

He freezes in the middle of the aisle, his senses suddenly alive, the hair on his arms and the back of his head coming to a stand. There’s a muttered curse and a quiet insult from behind him as somebody almost crashes their cart into him, but he ignores them.

A distinctive scent has caught his nose.

He doesn’t even think and he abandons the cart to hurry after the faint, familiar traces reaching his nose, until he’s practically running down the aisle and taking the turn so sharply he skids around the corner.

Apparently, Liam’s fatalistic musings were nothing more than a result of the frankly hellish night and the spooky hospital parking lot, because while Theo has indeed disappeared quietly — or as quietly as his truck could be — into the night like a lone wolf, here he is.

In the bright light of day in the supermarket, like a normal person buying normal food.

Well, almost.

Theo’s shoulders are stiff and his stance is tense, expression alarmed, as he’s no doubt heard Liam’s mad dash and is now prepared for a confrontation. His fingers are squeezing the can of soup he was inspecting so hard that there are little dents in the tin.

It’s only a second, though, as soon as he catches Liam’s eyes, he seems to relax all at once, his shoulders fall and he gives an exasperated eye roll. It seems Liam doesn’t count as a threat.

Liam just stands there gaping at him.

He looks so normal in his jeans and t-shirt — okay maybe the t-shirt a little too tight and that white material is maybe a little too see-through for it to be casual and not showing off — that he can’t quite reconcile his jumbled feelings on the possibility of Theo’s leaving forever and the reality of him not having left at all.

He looks out of place, shopping for groceries like any other person, when he used to be an enemy first and then a reluctant ally and then something left unspoken and not so well defined.

Theo stares at him, eyebrows raised in a silent question.

“Ah,” Liam starts eloquently and then goes on with an even more cringey, “what are you doing here?”

Theo stares at him for a long moment, then he makes an exaggerated gesture, pointing at the can in his hand first and then at the shopping basket lying at this feet. There’s some bread, a couple of cans of ready-made meals and a pack of toilet paper. Theo, who up until now has been an entity rather than a person, showing up and then disappearing randomly, who probably looms around in the tunnels spanning the underground of Beacon Hills, is buying canned soup and bread and toilet paper like he has any business being a normal person.

Does he even have a microwave? Cutlery? Plates?

He clears his voice. “No, I mean here as in Beacon Hills.”

Theo blinks in surprise and something flashes across his features, a barely there flinch, a little frown of his lips, but it’s so fleeting that Liam guesses he’s not supposed to have actually seen it. “Wow,” Theo snorts and then schools his face in artfully disinterested sarcasm. “It’s nice to feel welcome.”

“No, I didn’t—” Liam growls quietly and looks away for a moment. He takes a deep breath. _The sun, the moon, the truth_. “I meant, I thought you’d left.”

“Oh,” Theo stares at the can in his hand as if he’s just remembered his presence. He traces the dents his finger have dug in the tin. Then he puts it back on the shelf and takes another of the same type, tossing the new one in his basket. What a dick, really. He shrugs. “Nowhere else to go, really. I’m stuck here.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Liam’s mother comes around the corner right at that moment, pushing the cart Liam’s abandoned in the other aisle and startling the pair of them. “Oh, there you are.”

“See you around,” Theo says, but the tone raises at the end, so maybe it’s actually a question. “You have my number,” another statement that’s indiscernible from a question.

Liam shrugs. “Sure. Okay. Yeah.”

Theo swipes his basket from the floor, nods tight-lipped at his mom and then hurries in the opposite direction.

“Friend from school?” He can tell she’s slightly confused from the tone of her voice. She can probably tell he’s a little bit older than Liam, and their stilted conversation - if it can be called one at all - doesn’t certainly scream friendship.

In fact, Liam is probably as confused by Theo’s current existence relative to him.

_I know the smell of his blood because we fought each other and then we fought side by side. He tried to kill me and my friends and we killed him. I saved him and he saved me._

“Acquaintance,” he decides to finally settle on as he observes Theo getting in line at the cashier. It’s a slow day, so it’s only the matter of scanning his few items and then Liam watches as he pays, squinting at the total on the display and then counting the cash carefully into the cashier’s hand.

He raises his eyes to meet Liam’s one more time before grabbing everything and leaving.

  


* * *

  
  


 

**To: Beacon Hills Finest ( & Liam)**   
_Apparently Theo likes mushroom soup. What a weirdo  
18:15 _

**Mase**   
_???  
18:15 _

**Corey**   
_I like mushroom soup  
18:16 _

_Then your a weirdo  
18:16 _

  
  


* * *

  
  


He shoves the phone back into his pocket without correcting the misspelling on purpose, knowing it’ll drive Mason crazy.

He stares out the windows as Beacon Hills passes by, taking in the people walking on the sidewalks as if they hadn’t risen like a angry mob with pitchforks and torches against _his_ people only a couple of days earlier.

Theo is staying even though he doesn’t want to, and it’s never occurred to Liam that he might be the one to end up running away after all.

  
  


* * *

  


A few days later, Scott texts a time and location in the group chat. It’s all very mysterious, but once they get there it becomes apparent that it’s a show of force. This is Scott, however, so it’s not aimed to intimidate, but rather to reassure.

Scott and Argent have apparently found someone. He's a scrawny kid, maybe shorter than Liam, certainly younger. He looks from Scott to all of them, who have just showed up to welcome him into his new Pack.

Alec — that’s his name — doesn’t talk much, but he has a sharp look about him. Two days after making a home for Alec at his house, Scott asks Liam to go on a patrol with him.

The ‘patrollling’ takes place in the reserve. Liam isn’t sure they’re actually looking for anything, Scott doesn’t seem to have a specific aim, he’s just...strolling, on Liam’s right side, his steps crunching on the first fallen leaves. He hasn’t said a word yet, and only after a good twenty minutes does it occur to Liam that he’s likely waiting for him to speak up.

“Uh, Alec settling in?”

Scott shrugs and nods. He doesn’t look too convinced. “He doesn’t talk much,” he tells Liam. “Hopefully, that’ll change.”

Liam hums in agreement and they go back to silence and ‘patrolling’.

“Liam…” Scott starts and then stops. He doesn’t follow up with anything, not until Liam prods him with a questioning, ‘...yes?’. Scott gives him a look, a slight frown dimpling his forehead. He looks unsure more than anything else. His voice is hesitant when he asks, “is everything okay?”

Liam thinks about the hunters that have so far eluded capture. They’re in the wind, sure, but still, they haven’t been shooting at people. Gabe’s posse at school hasn’t been terrorizing anyone else, and Nolan has been giving Liam nervous reports on the youth chapter of the hunters, namely that there hasn’t been any activity at all after they got rid of the Anuk-ite.

He thinks about the anger he feels simmering inside himself whenever Nolan approaches him. He’s been able to keep it under control, but it feels like it might snap any day now. He’s decided to avoid Nolan when it looks it might be just the two of them. He’d have figured the Anuk-ite influence might be gone by now.

He thinks about Scott, who’s going to look for more supernaturals in danger before going off to college and leaving him to take care of everything in his absence.

He thinks about his mother talking about finding a new school and his father looking at other hospitals in and out of state.

He thinks about his birthday, looming close, only a few days away, in fact. He’s going to be 18, an adult who can make his own decisions.

“Yeah,” he says, finally.

He’s pretty sure Scott’s caught the lie, but he doesn’t mention it.

They keep patrolling for another hour or so, in silence. Scott’s probably giving him space,  waiting for him to come clean about the lie, but Liam can’t really find the words. He feels like if he lets slip even just one beyond his lips, they’re all going to come pouring out, raging and burning and out of control. He’s afraid Scott might not go if he sees how affected Liam still is.

One part of him doesn’t really want Scott to go, but he has an important mission, he has to protect those who can’t protect themselves — Argent likes to repeat it all the time, but in French — and he certainly is better than Liam at that. Liam doesn’t need protecting.

Liam’s more suited to destroy things, that’s why he should stay in Beacon Hills, to destroy the hunters that are left here.

Back at the car, Liam tugs fruitlessly on the handle and, when he looks up at Scott, he finds him frozen in the gesture of unlocking the car. He’s looking at Liam, over the roof of the car, another of those unsure frowns on his features.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” He says. “Not because I’m your Alpha, but because I’m your friend.”

Liam has good friends, he knows. Some of them even understand that it means to be a werewolf, but no one knows what it means to be angry like Liam does. Scott thinks he almost killed him because of the moon and Theo’s manipulation, but he doesn’t know about the zoo and Nolan, about how close he came to actually kill someone. At least Liam doesn’t think he knows. It seems Theo’s done as Liam asked and didn’t mention word of it to anyone.

Theo Raeken, mushroom soup lover and trustworthy. Imagine that.

“I know,” Liam says after a long moment. It’s not a lie, but it’s not the truth either. Scott looks as confused by that as Liam feels. Maybe Scott is actually feeling what Liam feels, chem signals and all that.

Liam tugs at the handle again but it’s still unlocked. The clack-clack of the plastic seems to shake Scott out of his stillness and he clicks the button on the key fob. There’s a synchronous sound as all the doors become unlocked.

He jumps in and buckles up before Scott has any chance to ask if he’s fine again.

The drive is spent in silence.

  


* * *

  
  


Liam’s birthday comes and goes. The lacrosse team has a cake and he blows the candles out right there, on the field, while still in his sweaty gear. Coach tells them to hurry up and leave because he has to close up, but he accepts bribery in the form a huge slice.

The real party is later, at Scott’s house. It’s not a huge thing, but everyone’s there. It’s both his birthday party and a goodbye party for Stiles and Lydia, who are going back to their studies, and Scott and Malia who are leaving with Argent in a few days.

There’s more cake and presents and laughter.

For the first time in days, Liam feels lighter.

  


* * *

  


It takes a week to get Alec enrolled in school. By that time, Scott has left with Argent again, Malia in tow.

So far, his parents haven’t mentioned moving, though he’s heard some of his father’s calls. He doesn’t know Liam is listening in, nor that he can hear the person on the other side of the call, how can he? He’s getting in touch with this and that colleague, asking about positions and benefits and quality of life.

Liam smiles at him over breakfast and feels it tug at the muscles of his cheeks, his neck. Something inside him roars and wants to be set free.

 


	2. Wolf burglars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s a little B&E between frenemies?

Theo runs out of money by mid-September.

He empties all the pockets of every piece of clothing he owns, digs around in the glove compartment and checks under all the mats, he reaches into the gaps between the seats.

He comes up with a total of 35.71 dollars.

He slumps back against the car seat with a sigh, slams his head back against it once, twice, three times, but when he looks sideways at the few crumpled bills and the coins on the passenger seat the amount hasn’t changed.

He turns the key in the ignition and watches as the dashboard lights up, the fuel gauge signaling he has slightly more than half a tank worth of gas. He twists the key and everything goes back to darkness.

He has thirty-five dollars, half a tank and winter is looming in the horizon.

He looks beyond the desolate parking lot he’s found at the edge of town, beyond the flickering light of the streetlamp, to the woods surrounding Beacon Hills. 

He won’t go far without refueling and he can’t stay without cash.

Not as a human, at least.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

He hasn’t seen Liam since their weird encounter at the supermarket, a week or two ago now. It felt weird to see each other in the light of day, in a situation where their lives weren’t in immediate danger. And yet, his heart spiked all the same as soon as he heard the running, as soon as he caught Liam’s scent.

Just as it’s spiking now, as he stares at Liam’s name appearing on his phone screen.

Apparently, his body has associated Liam with Theo ending up in dangerous and possibly life-threatening situations. Not that it’s too far off from reality. Theo has yet to find a reason why he keeps putting his life on the line, why the caring — because now it seems he  _ cares _ , and even though he showed Mason, showed everyone, really, there’s no satisfaction in that revelation. Only a sense of nausea, coiled deeply within him.

On the third ring, he swipes to accept the call and leans back against the jacket he’s been using as a pillow. 9:30 pm might be a little early to go to sleep, but it’s not like he has a pressing social calendar or anything, and running around in full shift takes a toll on him. He needs the rest, as he’s probably going to have to spend the whole of the next day looking for someone desperate enough to give him a job without asking too many questions, like his address, employment history, or social security number.

“Um, Theo?” says the hesitant voice in his ear, prompting him to clear his voice and sit up.

“I’m here,” he rubs his face trying to chase the sleep away, but a yawn manages to slip out anyway. “What?”

“Are you busy tonight?” 

Theo stares at his right foot, poking out of the blanket. He wiggles his toes and grimaces when he notices one peeking out from a hole in his sock. His head thumps back against the window. “Not really, but I have a feeling I’m about to be.”

“Yeah, so…” Liam trails off for a moment and he can hear movement in the background, a door closing quietly. Theo imagines him pacing around his room and comes up blank. He’s never seen Liam’s room, but he supposes it has a bed and a wardrobe, a desk. His lacrosse gear, perhaps scattered around the room. Liam doesn’t strike him as a terribly neat person. 

When Liam next speaks, his voice is lowered to just above a whisper, but Theo has good hearing and he can hear the seriousness in his voice just fine. “So Nolan has overheard a weird conversation between one of our new teachers and a student and we think it might be related to the hunters.”

Theo lets out a loud groan. “What is it with that school? First Nazi werelions and then fear itself and hunters and now hunters again. Wasn’t there an evil druid at some point, too?” 

“Well, it’s not like you started with your evil plans in the town library or something, either,” Theo can practically hear the eye roll over the phone.

“Scott and Stiles were in school,” he points out, this weird urge to defend the reasoning of someone he used to be once upon a time, someone whose memory is there but for the life of him, Theo wouldn’t be able to go back to. It’s like it happened to someone else and he was nothing more than a witness. But it happened, it  _ was _ him, and here he is. “And technically, I started the evil scheming in the sewer tunnels.”

“Well, you won’t get prizes for originality there, either.”

“Hunters you were saying,” he brings the conversation back on track, choosing to ignore Liam’s not so subtle chuckle.

“Right, yeah. Nolan wasn’t able to hear much, but Ms. Jones — that’s the name of the teacher — was definitely asking around for information about ‘weird happenings’ in Beacon Hills.”

“And you’re positive it’s about hunters? I mean, weird shit does happen around here. All the time.”

“Yeah, but…” there’s a sigh and a long moment of silence. “There hasn’t been any traces of the hunters in the past three weeks or so. Half the town in arms and now not even the slightest hint?”

“It was the Anuk-ite’s influence,” Theo tells him, but he doesn’t sound too convincing even to his own ears.

“Maybe, but there are people out there who know who we are,” Liam goes on. “There are people in school staring at me, at Corey and it’s just—”

The sudden vise of pure, pervading fear that grips his throat and doesn’t let go takes him completely by surprise and leaves him gasping. It’s like being dumped in an ice cold bath, the realization that these stupid kids might not be safe after all, with half their pack, with their Alpha away. Liam is probably the strongest werewolf he’s ever met - though he probably won’t be admitting that to his face  _ ever _ \- but even with Theo there to help him, they barely got out of the hospital alive,  _ both  _ times. 

“You okay?” 

Theo clears his throat and swallows a couple of times, but the bitter taste of bile doesn’t leave. “Sure.”

“So anyway, it might be nothing, but I’m supposed to keep an eye on things for Scott and I’d like to check it out, just to be on the safe side.”

‘I’ and not ‘we’. “The sidekicks not coming?”

There’s a long pause before Liam’s reply. “It might be dangerous,” he says, but it doesn’t feel like the whole truth.

‘I don’t want to risk my friends’ lives, but you’re expendable’, he doesn’t say, but Theo is more than capable to fill in the blanks in the subtext on his own.

He feels his hand clenching in a fist, his jaw aching as he grinds his teeth. It’s not like he’s wrong though, Theo  _ is  _ expendable. He barely has a past and certainly doesn’t have much of a present. If he’s about to die in whatever plan Liam’s come up with, he won’t even have to worry about a future. Not a terrible outcome in the grand scheme of things, after all.

“Whatever,” he rolls his shoulders and reaches under the seat one handed for his shoes. “Where are we meeting? Am I picking you up?”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

An hour later he pulls up in front of Liam’s house. He doesn’t even have to text him, he’s barely put the truck into park - werewolf hearing, Liam’s probably heard him coming half a mile away - that the door flies open and Liam comes bounding out.

Liam’s mother appears in the doorway and observes them. Theo gives her in nod in greeting, unsure of what else to do in this situation, he’s not even sure she remembers him from the supermarket. She doesn’t seem to notice him, in any case, her eyes follow Liam as crosses the street. He looks away because Liam’s now right there, tearing the passenger door open with more force than strictly necessary and falling into the seat, almost smacking Theo in the face with his backpack.

“Hello to you, too,” he snorts. Liam shoots him a withering look and gestures to the road in front of them as he fights with the seatbelt. “ _ Fine _ , jeez.”

Theo throws the truck in gear and they get going. Liam’s mother is still staring after them from the door. He glances between her fading silhouette in the rearview mirror and Liam glowering at the dashboard.

“You mom doesn’t want you stay up past your bedtime?” his grins only gets wider when Liam turns to glare at him.

“Just drive.”

“Where am I going?”

Instead of replying, Liam takes out his phone. “Take the next left.”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Google Maps takes them to a small house, just in the outskirts of town. It stands slightly isolated from the others, with a small neat garden in front. There are no lights on and no car parked in the lot right next to the house.

Theo drives right past it and parks a couple of yards down the road. While he’s parking, Liam rummages in his backpack and comes up with two pairs of latex gloves and what looks like two ski masks. He silently passes one set of each to Theo while he stuffs his into his jacket pocket.

Theo’s bewilderment must be obvious, because the rustling of Liam shoving his backpack in the backseat stops and when he lifts his eyes he finds him frowning at Theo with a questioning frown. 

“What?”

“It seems Scott was right, after all. I’ve managed to corrupt his innocent, young beta into a life of crime.” 

Liam’s shoulders drop and he gives him an unimpressed look. He tears the ski mask out of his hands and shoves it none too gently on Theo’s head before leaving the truck and slamming the door shut so hard, he’s probably been heard in the next county over.

Theo chuckles to himself and checks in the mirror as he adjusts the mask so that he looks more like a normal teeneager wearing a normal beanie and not some burglar about to go on a job. 

Together, they make their way to the back of the house. They crouch in the bushes next to the wall of the backyard and listen intently for any signs of life coming from inside. Theo glances at Liam, waiting for him to confirm the fact that there are indeed no heartbeats coming from the house.

Liam nods so they don their ski masks and a second later, with a inhumanly high jump, they’re over the wall and sneaking into Beacon Hills High School’s new French teacher’s house.

They climb easily to the second storey window, Liam nodding at him to have a look. Theo squints at the window sill, but there doesn’t seem to be any lines of mountain ash, so he shakes his head.

With a grunt, Liam plants the claws of his right hand into the wall more firmly and uses his left to dig around his jeans pocket, coming up with a Swiss knife. He blinks at it, then he looks up at Theo sheepishly.

Theo rolls his eyes and mirrors Liam’s pose, reaching out with his right hand to take out the pocket knife blade.

“You’re the worst burglar ever,” he mutters while trying to extract the blade, but it’s not an easy task to carry out one handed while suspended ten feet off the ground. “Keep it still, dammit.”

“Just hook it— no, that’s the bottle opener, it’s right next—”

“Shut up or I swear I’ll stab you as soon as—”

“No, don’t—”

Theo feels his grip on the wall slip and he flails with his other hand in panic, bumping into Liam’s arm and making him flail around as well and resulting in the two of them engaging in what Theo is sure looks like a ridiculous dance.

“Shit—”

“Fu—”

Liam’s hand — and the pocket knife — smacks him in the forehead and almost makes Theo lose the grip for good and fall. There’s a quiet sound of rustling foliage as Liam’s pocket knife sails through the air and drops into a bush.

“So. That happened.” 

With a sigh, Theo prepares to jump down and spend the next thirty minutes rooting around for the pocket knife, when there’s the sound of metal snapping under the stress of too much force.

He turns to look at Liam, who has literally tore the window open, the latch now dangling uselessly from the frame.

“There goes the secrecy of the mission.”

Liam shrugs, as much as he can while dangling from a wall like Spider Man. “We can’t waste too much time,” he says. “We’ll just steal some random stuff to make it look like a real burglary or something.”

“If Scott or the Sheriff ask, I’ll tell them it was your idea.”

“It’s not like they’d believe you, anyway.”

Theo just glares at him but doesn’t answer back, because well, even with the whole listening for lies in the heartbeat, he’s probably right and Theo won’t even be given the benefit of the doubt.

He crawls inside as Liam keeps the window open with his claws. He drops to the floor on his elbows, making sure not to touch anything with his bare hands. He checks carefully below the window and sniffs the air, but he finds no traces of mountain ash. 

He makes a show of slowly taking the gloves from his pockets and carefully putting them on, all the while staring at Liam, hanging precariously outside the window.

“Hurry up, asshole,” Liam grits out. “Somebody could see.”

With a put upon sigh, he goes to the window and holds it open with one hand. “No mountain ash, come on in.”

Liam gives a grunt of relief and all but propels himself forward, bumping against Theo and almost sending the both of them sprawling to the floor. 

“Watch it!”

“You watch it!”

Theo lets the window fall closed and they’re finally inside. He shifts to his wolf eyes and sees Liam do the same opposite him. 

“You take downstairs and I’ll take the upstairs?”

Theo shrugs in agreement and hurries to the lower floor while Liam starts from the room they’re in, which seems to be some kind of studio.

The house is sparsely furnished and looks barely lived in, but then Liam’s told him that this ‘teacher’ is new in town as well as the school. Downstairs consists in a kitchen, a living room and a small room that seems to serve the conjoined purpose of pantry and broom closet. 

There doesn’t seem to be anything worth of note, if this Ms. Jones is hiding guns, they aren’t certainly on this floor. When he opens the fridge to check he tells himself he’s just being thorough, but the growling of his stomach when he catches sight of a tuna sandwich seems to call him out on it.

He grabs it and wolfs it down in three bites without even thinking about it. 

He slams the fridge door, readjusts his ski mask and goes back upstairs, still munching on the last bit of the sandwich.

He finds Liam in the master bedroom.

“I couldn’t find any— are you eating something?”

“Nope,” Theo says around the bread. The bread was soggy on the inside and dry on the outside, but the last human meal had been a week ago and he’s getting tired of eating raw rabbit, so it might as well be the best sandwich he’s had in his life.

Liam makes a disgusted sound, but lets it drop. “As I said, I haven’t found anything of note. She has a few books about the occult, but that might be a coincidence. I took some pictures in any case.”

“Nothing downstairs either,” Theo mumbles around the food, then frowns as he catches sight of a framed picture on the night table on the right side of the bed. 

There are a woman and a man in the picture, the woman he’s never seen but the man looks vaguely familiar. He turns and shows it to Liam. “This the teacher?”

Liam nods. “Ms. Jones, yep. No idea about the guy, why?”

Theo shrugs. “Not sure,” he repositions the picture frame where he found it, but takes out his own phone to snap a picture. He stares at it a moment longer before putting the phone away and turning to Liam. “So, we ready to blow this joint?”

“Just a sec,” and then Liam starts opening drawers and inexplicably stuffing his pockets with random things he finds in them.

“What are you doing?”

“Making it look like a burglary! Give me a hand.”

“I ate a sandwich.”

“Burglars don’t steal food!”

“This one did.” He checks the time, they’ve been in the house long enough. “Liam, let’s go.”

Liam grabs what looks like a necklace in his pack pocket and then follows him back to the studio. They jump from the window and touch the ground in a silent roll, after which they spend another ten minutes looking for Liam’s pocket knife. Or rather, Liam looks for it while Theo hisses at him to hurry it up.

In the end, the pocket knife is lost and Liam mopes all the drive back to his house.

“My dad gave me that pocket knife.”

“Well, then maybe you should have been more careful, butter fingers.”

“You made me drop it!”

“Add it to the long list of things I’m responsible for, if it makes you feel better.”

“Maybe I will!”

They growl and glare at each other for a long moment, before Theo has to break eye contact to go back to driving and making sure they don’t get into any accidents. There is almost a minute of complete quiet, before Liam starts moving around and squirming in his seat. He reaches into his pockets and then starts tossing stuff onto Theo’s back seats.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?!”

“I can’t bring this stuff home, I’m leaving it with you.”

“What am I supposed to do with it?”

Liam shrugs. “I don’t know, keep it for a bit until we come up with something?”

“It’s  _ stolen goods _ !” Theo’s shriek is an octave higher than his usual timbre and even Liam seems taken aback at his vehemence. Then again, it’s not like he’s aware that Theo’s awaken by police officers at least once a week. Now that he full shifts more often, he parks closer to the woods, if not in them, and the frequency has somewhat diminished, but his truck’s likely on the Beacon County watchlist and he can’t afford being found with stolen things.

Liam seems to be duly apologetic when he timidly says, “bury it somewhere?”

Theo lets his head drop forward and they do almost drive into a tree.


	3. Behind every good leader there’s a great team and at least one invisible guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam mediates and coordinates and organizes and other adult and responsible verbs.

“You did  _ what _ ?!” Both Liam and Corey wince  in pain at Mason’s screech.

“You want to keep your voice at a more supernatural-friendly level?” Liam asks, blinking and shaking his head to clear it. “And it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Wasn’t a big- Liam! You committed a crime!” Mason is still freaking out, but thankfully he’s lowered his voice. Next to him, Corey is doing his best to avoid being hit by his flailing arms as he smiles and nods nervously at the students passing by them on their way through the school parking lot. “And you didn’t call us!”

Oh, so _ that’s  _ the real issue.

“It’s  _ fine _ ,” Liam sighs. “I was with Theo.”

“Theo,” Mason says, freezing in his flailing.

“Theo?” Corey pipes up.

“Is there an echo? Yes,  _ Theo _ .”

“Who?” comes Alec’s voice from behind him, making Liam yelp in surprise as if he were a normal human and not a werewolf with literally supernatural hunter instincts and senses.

He blames on the fact that he hasn’t got used to his scent yet.

“Oh, hey. Alec,” then he catches sight of Nolan hurrying in their direction. “And...Nolan?”

“Hey, guys,” Nolan bumps into Corey in his enthusiasm. “What’s up? Group meeting?” Nolan’s always reluctant to say the word ‘pack’.

“Yes,” Liam says.

“No,” Mason says.

Corey looks between the two of them. “Maybe?”

“Who’s Theo?” Alec asks again. He probably used to be one of those annoying children who never let a matter drop.

“He’s the asshole who tried to kill all of us, remember?” Mason says, maybe with a little too much vehemence, especially since he’s glaring at Liam while saying it. As if Liam’s the one to blame. 

It’s not like Mason wasn’t having his honeymoon while Liam was suffering under house arrest. He’s lucky he’s still Liam best friend, if Liam decides to go on a string of investigation-related breaking and enterings with Theo instead of Mason, it’d only serve him right.

“But he’s okay now,” Liam is quick to add. “Sort of. I mean, he’s still kind of an asshole. But he helps. Sometimes.”

“Yeah, he’s been  _ so  _ helpful, lately,” he can still feel Mason’s glaring at him, but Liam’s decided to ignore him. “I wonder why. Maybe he’s just biding his time until  _ he stabs us all in the back _ . Again.”

Nolan clears his voice. “But I mean, in the hospital,” he trails off, an uncomfortable hush falls over them. It’s the first time it’s actually been acknowledged out loud. Theo disappeared before they could talk that night and there was a lot of fidgeting and sneaking nervous glances among those who were left behind, much like what’s currently happening.

“Oh,  _ him _ ,” Alec says. “I see.”

See what? Liam would like to know, because he doesn’t see at all. Theo is still this weird being that exists only in glimpses at the far reaches of his orbit around them. There’s nothing for him in Beacon Hills and yet he stays, because he has nowhere else to go by his own admission, but it doesn’t sound plausible. 

Theo is 19, has a truck and nothing to pin him down, he could go  _ anywhere _ .

Although…Do the months he spent locked underground count? Did he have a birthday in the meantime? Maybe he’s still technically 18.

Either way, he’s an adult with a means of transport. 

He turns to Corey. “Do you know when Theo’s birthday is?”

Corey looks at him like he just started speaking in ancient Sumerian or something.

“Riiiight. I’ll see you around.” And with that Alec is off.

They mumble a few farewells in his direction, before going back to the matter at hand.

“So, did you find anything while breaking all kind of laws with your new partner in crime?” Mason asks.

“Not really,” Liam sighs. “Ms. Jones doesn’t seem to be a hunter. Or at least, she doesn’t leave hunter things at her place. She had some occult books, but nothing that stood out,” he takes out his phone and shows them the pictures he took. He frowns, then. “Although…”

“Although?”

He gives a shrug. “She had a framed picture of herself with some guy, Theo seemed to think that was relevant.” He swipes the phone screen to browse the pictures, but there’s nothing in the ones he took in Ms. Jones’ house and when he reaches a selfie of himself and Corey in lacrosse gear that he took a couple of days earlier after practice he gives up. “I’ll text Theo to send it to me.”

“What’s the plan then?” Corey asks as they make their way to class.

The all turn to Liam, as if he had any idea, but Scott’s left him in charge and it’s not like he can step back from it. People’s lives might literally be on the line, his friend’s lives. Not for the first time, he wishes his skills of being freakishly strong, even for a werewolf, were more useful. Not for the first time, he wishes Scott hadn’t left.

He looks at their expectant faces. “I guess we keep an eye on her?” he shrugs. 

“None of us have French.”

“Maybe we can ask Mrs. Finch?”

“Great idea, Liam!” Mason gives him a pat on the shoulder and then hurries towards his locker closely followed by Corey.

“No, wait. I didn’t mean m—” Liam turns around to find that Nolan has also made himself scarce.

He should get new friends.

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

**To: Theo** ****  
_ yo can u send me the pic you took at ms.j huose? _ __   
_ *house _ __   
9:15

 

_ when’s ur birthday? _ _   
_ 9:45

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

He doesn’t have AP Biology until Thursday and he doubts Mrs. Finch will buy that he wants to discuss anything even remotely related to her class. Still, he makes sure to pass by her classroom and peek inside on his way to his classes.

No one is there during the first period, when the second is just starting the door is open but there are already students inside and when Mrs. Finch looks up, Liam pretends to check his phone and hurries away.

He checks to see if Theo’s replied to his messages, but there’s no news as he rushes to English.

When Liam passes by again, the door is open, but there’s no one in the class. He takes an hesitant step inside. 

“Hello?”

“Hello, Liam,” says Mrs. Finch from behind him.

He whirls around, barely managing to keep a hold on his books. “H-Hi!”

They stand on the doorway looking at each other for a long moment, Mrs. Finch’s right eyebrow steadily climbing higher and higher. In the end she gives a deep sigh and looks pointedly at him.

“Did you need anything, Liam?”

“Ah, yes,” he darts looks behind her to check whether there’s anyone within hearing range. This being Beacon Hills, there are probably all sorts of supernatural creatures roaming the high school halls. 

“Is it about biology at all?”

Liam scratches the back of his head. “Not really.”

Mrs. Finch sighs again, but she motions him inside the classroom, and then closes the door behind them. 

“Go ahead, before I regret this,” she says, crossing her arms and leaning back against her desk.

Ever since the fight with the thing that stole her daughter’s body, she’s been withdrawn and the few glimpses Liam’s caught of her until now have shown a sad and defeated woman. Liam can’t even begin to imagine what she’s going through, first her whole pack, and then her daughter…

“Liam?”

He clears his voice. “So, you know the new French teacher, Ms. Jones?”

“Hannah? I’ve talked to her a couple of times…” she narrows her eyes at him. “Why?”

“She might be a…” he lowers his voice to a whisper. “...a hunter.”

Mrs. Finch gives him a very familiar unimpressed look. “She’s a pacifist.”

“You talked to her only a couple of times and you know she’s a pacifist?”

Her look doesn’t waver. “She also doesn’t smell like gunpowder, gun oil or anything that has to do with guns,” she says. “Nor wolfsbane, mountain ash or anything else harmful to people of our kind.”

“Oh. Okay,” he points to the door. “I’ll be going then.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her, but Liam,” she sighs, “not everyone is a dangerous entity or person out to get us.”

He nods, but the thing is, sometimes they are. And since this is Liam, and this is Beacon Hills and Scott is away, the odds are not in his favor.

“Mrs. Finch…”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry about your family,” he says. Her head snaps up. “With everything going on at the time, I never actually…”

Mrs. Finch starts blinking rapidly and looks away. She shakes her head. “If I hadn’t tossed the wolfsbane at you and Scott…” she presses the palm of her hand against her mouth, as if to keep the words behind her lips.

With mounting horror, Liam realizes that she’s crying. He’s always had problems with people crying, but when it comes to adults crying, he gets stuck somewhere in between feeling useless and like he’s intruding in something private. 

He hesitantly steps forward and gently, he gives her a loose hug. He pats her shoulder a couple of times. It’s all very awkward and he steps back after a moment, woodenly, hand dropping to his side. He clears his throat and looks at the blackboard beyond her, at the desk, at his shoes. Up close and now that she’s not masking it anymore, there’s no mistaking that she’s a werewolf and being this close to an Alpha who isn’t his makes his wolf instincts go crazy, but he soldiers through.

There’s a sniffle and then Mrs. Finch straightens up. She sniffs and with twin swipes of her fingers, she dries her eyes.. She looks down at him, pressing her lips in a thin line. 

“You can talk to me— to us,” he smiles up at her. “Scott and the A-List pack members are away, so we have to stick together.”  

“You’re a good kid, Liam,” she says. “But the less I know, the better I’ll sleep at night.”

He nods, conceding the point. She probably wouldn’t have approved of the investigative breaking and entering into Ms. Jones’ house, either.

She checks her watch and then motions to the door. “You’re probably late for your next class now.”

Liam darts a look at the clock on the wall and curses. He rushes to the door, but skids to a halt when Mrs. Finch calls his name.

He pokes his head back in. “Yes?”

“Remember your assignment for Thursday.”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

**To: Theo** __   
_ dude where u at? _ __   
11:53

 

**To: The B listers** ****  
_ mrs Finch says ms jones is a pacifist??? _ _   
_ 11:53

_ no gun smell on her and no anti-wolf things either _   
11:54

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Lunch at school is usually unofficial Pack meeting time. With who knows how many hunter spies still remain in the school, they can’t discuss actual supernatural topics as openly as they used to before. While their nature is sort of an open secret by now, and therefore any gathering that features all of them would be counted as suspicious by hunter-wannabes, they can at least keep up the pretense of being normal high schoolers.

That, and Liam likes to think that by keeping the attention centered on themselves they can turn it away from those supernatural kids — and teachers — that want to stick to the shadows and be safe there. It’s way too late for their Pack, but if it can save even just one innocent person, he figures it’s worth it.

As usual, it’s Corey and Mason on one side with Liam and Alec in front of them and Nolan sitting to Liam’s left. Alec is typically the first to finish the meal — scarfing it down in a matter of minutes, as if he were still on the run, with every second counting to his safety — spending then the rest of the time either reading a book or poking through his phone, seemingly ignoring them.

Corey and Mason are usually the last ones to finish — sometimes having to shove the last few bites in a hurry to get to their next class — Mason usually because he’s too busy talking and Corey because he’s busy staring adoringly at him. 

Nolan eats while reading for his next class, because he’s never on time with assignments, and Liam just eats and discusses the day’s topics, meanwhile dodging Mason’s kicks under the table because he sometimes,  _ very rarely  _ happens to speak with his mouth full.

He can’t help if there are important things to discuss, and also if people at his table can barely understand his words as he munches, he figures anyone trying to eavesdrop would have even worse of a time making them out.

It’s a sound reasoning that somehow Mason still has trouble grasping, though.

However, there’s not much to discuss during this particular lunch. Liam’s already shared all the information — if it can be called that at all — he got from Mrs. Finch in the group chat, and Theo still hasn’t replied to his messages, so he can’t share the pics he took at the house with the others.

The others have had more or less Liam’s luck. 

“We haven’t even seen Ms. Jones today,” Mason says, shooting a look at Corey, who shrugs and shakes his head to confirm the fact.

“What about you guys?” Liam asks around his mouthful of pasta, looking first at Nolan then at Alec and managing to dodge not one but two of Mason kicks. He’s getting good at this.

Alec gives a grunt that Liam interprets as a ‘no’, while Nolan shakes his head. “But that doesn’t mean much,” he adds. “None of us have French, and so far I haven’t been near her classroom.”

Or she could be home with the police dusting her place for prints.

“Maybe we should just quickly check if she’s in today?” Liam says. “Or if she might have called in sick? Or something?”

Nolan frowns and tilts his head. “Why would she have called in sick?”

Mason, who knows him well, turns to him with a squinty-eyed glare. “Liam,” he says in a low voice. “What did you and the psycho killer do?”

“He’s not a psycho killer anymore.”

“The psycho asshole, then.”

Liam pokes at the last two pieces of pasta remaining in his plate. 

“Liam?”

He finally looks up at Mason. He’s still glaring at him. “So, there might have been slightly more…” he coughs, “breaking than previously implied?”

“Liam!”

“We were wearing gloves the whole time, it’s fine,” he frowns. “Well, Theo ate a sandwich, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t leave any evidence behind.”

Mason doesn’t seem too impressed. “Theo ate a sandwich.”

“I’m sure it’s fine and she didn’t notice anything at all, but you know…” he darts a look at Corey. “Maybe you could have a look to see if she’s around later?”

“Sure.”

“We could have a meeting tonight?” Nolan suggests. “If the Sheriff or Parrish can make it, we could have our answer.”

“Of course,” Mason snorts. “‘Hello, Sheriff, did you notice by any chance whether any bread crumbles were left or if the psycho asshole managed to eat all the evidence?’ I’m sure it’s going to go well.”

“It’s not like we were actual thieves!” That comes out a little too loud and gets a couple weird glances their way. “I mean, we had to take a couple of things to make it look like a real burglary on account of the broken window, but—”

“Oh my god!”

“We’re going to give them back!”

Everyone at the table is looking at him with stares ranging from shocked to vaguely confused. Even Nolan — who, by the way, tried to kill Liam several times and should therefore be the least judging and the most grateful to be sitting at the same table as Liam while keeping his ability to breathe — seems to be vaguely disappointed with him.

“This is what happens when you don’t call us and you make your own plans,” Mason hisses. This time the kick lands true and painfully on Liam’s shin, but it’s not fair really, he’s not even eating any food. “You run off with Theo and become a criminal!”

With a flick of the wrist, Liam checks the time on his phone — Theo still hasn’t replied, it’s almost in the territory of worryingly — and with barely five minutes to spare, they need to bring the covert Pack meeting to an end. Well, maybe not so covert with all the loud whispering Mason is doing about him going to prison for being an idiot and having to share a cell with Theo, his college and lacrosse careers forever tainted. It’s really getting too dramatic for Liam’s tastes.

And anyway, it’s not like he’ll be able to pursue lacrosse beyond high school levels. He’s pretty sure college athletes have to undergo all sorts of blood tests that he’s not sure he can fake.

The thought leaves a sour taste in his mouth and he’s maybe squeezing the edge of his chair a little too hard, the plastic giving an ominous creak that stops Mason in the middle of his tirade. 

He takes a deep breath. “So,” he starts, once he’s sure he’s not going to growl a little too much on the wolf side. “Tonight at Alec’s place? Six o’clock?”

‘Scott’s place’ has become ‘Alec’s place’, Alec being Scott’s ‘cousin from LA’ for whoever asks. Not that no one ever does, having both the Sheriff and one of his deputies on their side surely helps.

Alec shrugs. “I’ll tell Melissa,” he says. “But you guys are taking care of the pizzas. And you have to be out by 9, I need to study.”

And with that, lunch is over. Mason and Corey, as usual, shovel whatever food’s left in the plates into their mouths as fast as they can while Nolan tries to read the last couple of paragraphs before his test.

Corey catches his eye before Liam has time to leave. “I’ll go do the ‘thing’, will keep you up to speed.” 

“Try not to commit any crimes on the way to class,” Mason yells after him, like that’s supposed to be real subtle. “Prisons don’t have lacrosse teams!”

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

_ You added Theo R. to The B listers _ __   
**To: The B listers** __   
_ Say hi to theo everyone! _ __   
12:53

_ @Theo R. just send the pic here _ _   
_ 12:53

_ also pack meeting at 6 at Alec’s place. Leave your topping preferences here mase’ll be happy to take care of the pizza _ _   
_ 12:54


	4. The wolf with the stolen heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo buries a treasure, finds a job and has a revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one this time!

By the time Theo gets back to what he now thinks as ‘his spot’ right at the edge of the preserve, alone after dropping Liam off at his place, it’s well past one in the morning. Of course, it’s not like he can go to sleep right away, not with all the stuff that the stupid kid stole and that is now strewn all across his back seats.

While parking this out of the way from the main road visits from the country deputies have gone to only a handful a month, Theo isn’t about to test his luck at this time.

He cuts off the engine and after five minutes of rooting around using both the truck interior light and his phone, he can safely say that he’s managed to collect everything. Sitting in the middle of his back seat there’s a mixed collection of necklaces, mismatched earrings, a couple of bracelets and even a watch. All in all, he’s probably looking at barely $100 worth of goods, but some look well-worn and old and they feel like their sentimental value vastly exceeds their actual one.

One in particular catches his eye. It’s a simple necklace: a leather string and silver pendant that’s composed of a circle and what look like two half moons at its sides. The metal is discolored in the center, where it must have been touched so many times that it lost the shine that still remains on the edges.

He sighs and rubs his face with both hands.

It’s frankly a mystery why he hasn’t killed Liam yet and instead keeps coming when he’s called, time and time again.

He puts everything in a plastic bag and knots it tightly, making sure to leave enough above the knot so that his wolf teeth won’t accidentally pierce the bag and spill anything. He then places the bag carefully on the ground and takes off his clothes. Shivering, naked in the incipient fall air, he locks the truck and hides the key behind one of the front wheels. 

He full shifts and takes the bag gently between his teeth. He takes off running, deep within the Preserve, along paths well-known to his wolf shape. He’s been roaming the woods frequently in the past few weeks, hunting small game and drinking from creeks. 

He’s homeless and basically penniless, but he still has this. As long as he this, he’s free. He’s caught glimpses of wolves during his roamings - real, actual wolves - but they’ve kept their distance so far, even when he’s been pretty sure he was trespassing in their territory - perhaps sensing that he’s not quite a natural creature.

He finds the perfect spot not far off from one of the foot paths and chooses a few familiar trees, scratching the bark to leave markings that could be understood from human eyes as well as wolf ones. He digs a deep hole and buries the bag in the middle of a copse of trees standing in almost a perfect triangle. He makes sure to cover and mask the ground with some leaves and branches so that it doesn’t look recently disturbed.

He runs back to his truck and after listening intently for any approaching cars he shifts back to human. He shudders as soon as the thick coat of hair is gone and grabs blindly for the key. He unlocks the truck with shivering fingers and dives in.

He quickly dresses in his ‘night clothes’ — sweat pants and shirt and the thickest socks he owns — and lies exhausted on the back seat. He adjusts the t-shirt he’s using as a pillow, wrinkling his nose at the smell — he needs to do a laundry run sooner rather than later — and covers himself with the threadbare blanket he’s managed to find in the old Dread Doctors lab. Nothing much is left over from those days, certainly very few salvageable things, after the months he was ‘away’. 

He checks the phone for the time and groans. It’s past 2 in the morning now, and what’s more his battery is almost dead. He turns the phone off and tosses it on the front seat. It’s not like he needs an alarm clock when the sun will wake him in a few hours anyway.

Liam isn’t likely to call him again tonight, either, and to be perfectly honest he’s probably the only one Theo would answer at godawful hours of the night anyway.

Though maybe not after tonight’s clusterfuck. He might not have much dignity left, but he certainly needs his sleep.

Almost exactly a year ago, he came back to Beacon Hills to find his own Pack or make it his by force, if necessary.

And now, here he is, homeless and with barely anything to his name, with perhaps only one person he knows that doesn’t actively hate him, for whatever reason, even when he probably should.

But he’s free, he’s alive and, now that his almost nightly nightmares are actually starting to feel like nightmares as opposed to reality, he feels  _ real _ .

In the privacy of his solitude, he allows himself to think that maybe that’s enough.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Though he wakes up a little after dawn still tired, the previous night was so exhausting that there weren’t any nightmares.

It feels like he should send Liam a thank you card, but he’d probably take it as encouragement to drag him into even more crazy endeavors.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

By noon, he's hit a couple of bars, a laundromat and a small family-owned grocery store. He gets turned away from each and every place, some take longer than others, one of the guys from the bar just takes a look at him and then nods at the door from which he just came in without even saying a word.

The lady at the grocery store says they'll call him back, but he can feel the lie in her heartbeat and see the mistrust in her eyes.

It's only when he gets to the construction site that he realizes that there's a conspicuous stain of dry blood on his hoodie. In fact, it's the foreman who makes him aware of it by staring at it for a long moment and then looking back at him, with an eyebrow raised.

"Ah, coffee stain," he shrugs, while trying to scratch it away. That laundry run is going to have to happen sooner rather than later.

"Right," the foreman sighs. "Why don't you have a look around and then come back to talk to me."

Theo can't keep from frowning in confusion, but when the man just juts his chin out to the door of his prefab office, he offers a "sure," and then follows the instructions.

It's lunch time, so there are only a couple of men at work, moving steel beams around. They're about 50 yards away from him, with their backs to him, but he can see the way the both stiffen at the same time and slowly turn their heads eerily in unison to squint at him. As he gets nearer, the wind brings their scents to his nostrils and he freezes.

They are werewolves.

They remain locked in a weird staring contest for a several moments, until Theo gives a small nod in salute and they go back to their work and to ignoring him. He exhales a breath he wasn't aware he's been holding until then and it comes out as a surprised huff of bemusement.

"Well, how about that."

When he goes back to the foreman - his name is Joe - he gets a pair of working gloves and some overalls tossed his way. "I have no problem with your kind, unless you give me problems," Joe says. Theo gets the feeling he means 'kind' in a very specific way, rather than the general one of  'people with sketchy pasts and even sketchier identities'. "You're here Monday to Friday from 9 to 6. Sometimes there's weekend or night work. I pay you in cash every week at the end of the week, no exceptions. That’s the deal.”

Theo supposes that if you gotta have uninsured manpower in your business, werewolves make perfect sense. No workplace injuries to cover up and people who are  _ definitely _ more interested in hiding in plain sight rather than calling the unions on you. Plus, if you strictly keep to American werewolves, Immigration Services will be guaranteed to steer clear of you.

"Sure."

"Paul will be back from lunch shortly," Joe tells him. "He'll show you the ropes. You can wait outside in the meantime."

Theo goes back to his truck to leave his hoodie inside and then slips his overalls over his jeans and t-shirt. He squints at the foreman's office, but no one who might even resemble this Paul is there yet, so he reaches for his phone in the glove compartment and switches it on. The battery level is still pretty low, but he might be able to connect it to some outlet here at work before the end of the day.

Work. Well, that's a new one.

As soon as the phone connects, it starts vibrating with what feels like a million messages coming in.

He scrolls quickly through them, to make sure that it's just Liam vomiting words on him because apparently he hasn't anything better to do — why is he asking for his birthday? — rather than actual serious stuff. He frowns at his inclusion in what seems like a group chat with Liam's unorthodox attempt at his own Pack, but he has to admit that Mason's passive-aggressive way of dealing with it is somewhat entertaining, even if most of his jabs are at Theo's expense.

A car parks close to the foreman's office and a tall, middle-aged man with sandy, gray-streaked hair and a clean shaven face gets out of the driver's door. He's wearing overalls like Theo's and he has a pair of gloves under his arm. Seems like Paul's back from his lunch break.

Theo quickly selects the picture he took at Ms. Jones's house, barely lingering to observe it again. There's something about it that tugs at the back of his mind, but it doesn't quite take form. He shoots it at the group chat, before tossing the phone back in the glove compartment and locking the car to hurry after Paul and start his first day as a somewhat useful member of society.

That is, if one didn't take into account the tax evasion.

Small steps.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

**To: The B listers** ****  
_ You shared a picture. _ _   
_ 13:01

_ No pizza for me. No promises on the meeting either. _ _   
_ 13:01

  
  


 

* * *

  
  
  
  


The day passes mostly uneventful, with Paul showing him where everything is and who everyone is. In addition to the two werewolves he already sort of met — José and William — there’s another supernatural he can’t quite place species-wise whose name is Lily and is the only woman working in the construction site. 

Lily is a pretty deceiving name, too, she’s not a delicate flower and in fact she looks like she could bench press Theo’s truck and have enough energy left by the end of the day to run an Iron Man marathon. She seems friendly enough, though, as she greets Theo with a nod and a knowing smile.

In addition to Paul and Joe, there are two other human men, Enrique and Rich, who grunt what he supposes is a greeting before going back to their job.

Once the small tour is over, Theo is told to move stuff from one place to another and then he’s pretty much left to his own devices. He keeps to himself and none of the other come over to exchange words, apart from work-related stuff, not even the supernaturals. He figures he’s not the only one who wants to keep his head down and go about his business, so it suits Theo just fine.

Only, there’s a couple of times where he feels the weight of scrutiny, the small hairs at the back of his neck standing on end. He casts a couple of glances around and manages to catch Rich staring at him while trying not to look like he is. The whole thing is weird and it doesn’t sit well with Theo, especially since he’s almost 100% sure he knows Rich from somewhere, maybe the laundromat he uses? But no, he goes there every other week, he’d recognize anyone he sees with that much frequency. 

But then again, both times happened when Theo stopped to wipe the sweat off his face using the bottom hem of his t-shirt, so maybe it’s just some guy who likes sweaty young men with nice abs and they crossed paths in Sinema or something last year.

It’s not a particularly difficult job to grasp, the physical side being the only demanding part of it. Normally it would be a walk in a park for his enhanced strength and stamina, but his extra curricular activities the night before and the fact that he hasn’t been sleeping nor eating decently for the past few weeks mean that by the time 6 p.m. rolls around, he’s ready to climb into his truck and sleep for 12 hours straight.

He has a talk with Joe at the end of the shift, who confirms that if he doesn’t end up doing something stupid, he’s going to have a job for at least a couple of months. When he reaches his truck, he recognizes Rich’s smell lingering in the air. The man seems to be quite taken with him. He sniffs the air trying to figure out what he’s been doing around his truck and for how long, when he gets a whiff of his own ripe smell and gags.

He’s got several options for showers, he usually either breaks into the school or Dr. Deaton’s animal clinic after hours. Though breaks in isn’t probably the right term, as he got copies of the keys made a couple of months ago, when he found out Stiles left his own copies with the Liam and Mason, ‘borrowing’ them for a few hours was easy.

He suddenly remembers that he’s invited for pizza and his stomach growls. Liam said that they’re meeting at Alec’s place, wherever that is. Theo remembers Alec vaguely as the kid Argent and Scott came back together with one day. He’s only seen him a couple of times, mainly glimpsed at school when he’s happened to meet Liam for some reason or other. He has no idea where he lives though.

He reaches for his phone in the glove compartment, but after a moment of trying to turn it on, he has to admit to himself that the phone battery is flat dead and that he’s an idiot for forgetting to charge it.

It seems like it’ll be another evening of hunting out in the Preserve.

Theo Raeken, terror of squirrels and wild bunnies.

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


 

It’s a couple of hours later, belly full and running back to his truck so he can go have a shower and finally sleep, that it comes to him.

The face of Rich, that night during the siege at the police station, glaring at him from behind a semi-automatic rifle.

Even on four legs, he stumbles right as he’s crossing the road.

The headlights catch him by surprise.

 


	5. Make your enemies your allies and give them food (and a hoodie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pizza gets ordered several times, an innocent armchair gets brutalized and Theo sees a doctor.

Liam is standing in front of the McCall's household just a few minutes are 6 p.m. Already from outside, he can hear Nolan's already there. There's also Chris Argent's lingering scent, but Liam knows for a fact that he's roaming the Country looking for stray supernaturals. The last time he's seen him — and Scott — was when they brought Alec to live with Scott's mom, just over a month ago, before school started. Everybody sort of knows about the thing between him and Melissa, it's an open secret when you live in close contact with werewolves, but the subject hasn't been breached out loud. 

Alec comes to the door before he even has time knock, and he's waved in. Liam nods at Nolan, who's sitting on the sofa, shoes off, reading what look like his math notes. Liam drops the cans of soda in the fridge and then joins the two of them in the living room. He stands awkwardly, he hasn't known Alec for a long time and for his part, the kid's been somewhat of a quiet presence, so far. And Nolan...Things are still strained between the two of them. Nolan seems to genuinely regret his brief affiliation with the hunters and his part in beating up and trying to kill Liam, and Liam himself is trying. If he can bring himself to forgive Theo, or at least work with him, for everything he's done to them, it stands to reason that he can do the same for Nolan.

Except there are moments he feels the rage coiling within himself even just at the sight of Nolan, moments when he has to clench his fists so tightly his claws draw blood, when his teeth gnash so hard he thinks he can hear them crack and splinter. Maybe it's a lingering effect of the Anuk-ite, of feeling so useless as the blows rained down on him, of feeling so impotent before his all consuming rage, but he knows that it's not just in his head. Nolan seems to have acquired some sort of sixth sense for whenever Liam gets into one of these 'moments' and he makes himself scarce or even more unnoticeable when disappearing isn't a possibility. He's almost as good as Corey in that sense.

Now is one of such moments, with Liam standing in the middle of the living room heart beating fast and nostrils flaring, with Nolan hunching even more into his notebook, curling into a as small shape as he can, and Alec as a confused witness in all this, eyes darting between the two of them. He's been brought up to speed on most of the Pack's business, but like with that morning's somewhat half-assed explanation about Theo's history with them, most of the information he has is fractured and diluted down to mere facts, leaving out the implications, the hurt, the blood.

_ Here's Nolan. He hated us for not being human and tried to kill us a bunch of times, he went around terrorizing human and non-human kids alike as school by testing people's humanity, but he had a crisis of conscience at some point and now we're cool. _

_ Oh, there’s a guy named Theo, too. Sometimes. We don't know where he is right now, he might have ditched Beacon Hills. He manipulated, hurt and killed people, worked with literal monsters, but at the same time he was also manipulated by those same monsters and he sort of resurrected my ex-girlfriend and we sent him to hell, but after we got him back he's sort of okayish and he helped us and saved our lives and took the pain off some kid who tried to kill us — who was also a close friend of the other kid who tried to kill us, by the way — so we're sort of chill now, maybe? He's still an annoying asshole, though. _

_ Also we have a werewolf hunter in the Pack, but make yourself at home in your new Alpha's house. There's coke and leftover pizza in the fridge. _

He can definitely understand Alec's confusion, that was a fun night.

The stillness gets interrupted by knocking on the front door, Mason and Corey, judging by the animated voices he can hear. Nolan almost jumps out of his skin and Alec springs off the sofa and is at the door so quickly he might as well have teleported there. For Liam's part, the spell has been broken and he falls onto the armchair closest to the low table.

He nods to the notebook Nolan's been clutching with a desperate grip as if it were a shield. "Homework?"

Nolan looks up at him and they lock eyes for a long moment, then he seems to relax all at once and he smiles a little. "Yeah, Alec's been helping me," he says. "He's really good at math."

Alec and Mason come in with two giant pizza boxes, with Corey following after them with soda. They dump everything on the table and they all sit around it, Nolan casting his notebook aside as an afterthought. Not that Liam can blame him, pizza triumphs over all, but especially math.

Liam grabs a slice of ham and mushrooms and stands. "As temp Alpha, I declare this Pack meeting open." He promptly gets hit in the face by the plastic bottle cap Mason chucks at him.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, it's disgusting."

_ It's unconventional, as Packs go,  _ Scott told Alec.  _ But it works. _

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

By 7 p.m. the pizza is all eaten up and Liam figures Theo is gonna be a no show after all. He tries calling him a couple of times to make sure, but it goes straight to voicemail.

By 7:30 p.m. Melissa is back and makes them order another pizza since they left none for her.

By 8 p.m. the pizza arrives and they can finally get on with the pack meeting.

"Why is it always the school?" Melissa says around her slice of veggie with extra cheese. "Is there no kind of screening or background checking in place for the personnel?"

"To be fair the students are almost as bad as the teachers," Mason points out. Nolan, on the sofa, squirms around. "I mean, look at this room. Five students, of whom three are non-humans, and of the two humans, one was a ten foot tall monster for a bit and the other..." he trails off, shooting a glance at Nolan. So Liam might not be the only one having issues with the whole Nolan thing. "Well."

"I see your point," Melissa nods. "I'd like to say that it wasn't like this before Scott became a werewolf, but looking back, knowing the things that I do now, I did see some pretty weird things come into the ER. So maybe it's just Beacon Hills."

Now it's Liam's turn being uncomfortable. He's overheard his parents talk about moving again, thinking he couldn't hear — and why would they? They were in the car parked out front at the time and Liam was in his room with the window closed — and he still has to breach the subject with Mason. He still has to fully consider the implications, in fact. He can't move, he can't leave his Pack. Would that make him an omega? Stiles and Lydia are the only ones who have actually left on a semi-permanent basis, but they're not werewolves. Both Peter and Derek have left for a while, but they used to be Alphas, so maybe it's different for them? Liam wouldn't be moving to study for a certain period of time. His parents were talking about moving permanently. To the East Coast. Maybe he could run away from home and stay in Beacon Hills.

He looks up to find himself under close scrutiny by both Alec and Corey, one confused and the other worried. He shakes his head and shrugs.

Liam calls up the picture Theo sent to the group chat and holds his phone up so that Melissa can see it. "Do they look familiar in any way?" She observes it carefully, but then she shakes her head.

"I did an image search, but nothing seems to come up on social media," Mason pipes up from behind his laptop. "I sent it to Parrish, though, so he can keep an eye out for the guy, on the off chance Liam's new best friend is right and he's relevant after all."

Melissa turns to Liam with a confused tilt of her head. She seems more amused than anything, though. "Liam's 'new best friend'?" she repeats. "And here I thought yours was the only bromance with the potential to overshadow Scott and Stiles'."

"Mason is overreacting."

"Liam is consorting with the enemy."

Alec stops in the process of getting himself another slice of pizza, because the kid was bottomless. "I thought we were chill with him, now?" he asks, confused.

"Right," Liam points at him. "Theo isn't the enemy anymore, Mason, but sure...next time I'm planning any illegal activity I'll make sure to call you first."

"Boys."

"She doesn't seem to be actively involved with the hunters, either," Liam sighs and falls back against the back of the chair, almost sinking into the cushions. "So we have nothing," he scratches the back of his head, then looks up at Nolan. "Are you absolutely,  _ positively _ , sure that she was talking about hunters?"

"I heard talking to Lucas. I saw him at some of the meetings when I..." he gives Liam a nervous look, before glancing away and letting the sentence trail off in to silence. After taking a deep breathes he continues. "She asked specifically about— about Brett and Lori, things like was he there that night and was he absolutely sure that they both died and stuff."

Dread, like a cold shroud, unfurls down Liam's back, leaving him rigid and breathless. Nolan is still speaking, or at least he's opening his mouth and sounds seem to be coming out, but they're drowned by his heart thundering in his ears. When relaying his intel, Nolan only mentioned hunters, he didn't say anything about Brett and Lori being the object of the conversation. Liam should've asked. The way he's currently gripping its armrests, claws out and digging in the leather, he's sure he's ruining Melissa nice armchair, but it feels like he'd sink and drown into himself if he were to let go.

_ The moon. The sun. The truth _ .

But it doesn't help, that was Brett and Lori's mantra and it hasn't worked for a while for him. There's something wrong, maybe the Anuk-Ite's influence still lingers

_ The moon. _

he's aware his arms are now shaking with the effort of keeping them still of keeping himself still and someone is calling him

_The_ _sun._

where the hell is Theo when Liam needs knocking out

_ The tru— _

"Liam!"

He jolts out of his daze with a gasp and blinks up at Mason, who's bent over him, hand hovering just shy of touching him. He’s staring down at him, eyes round with worry. “Liam?” he asks, quietly now and not as frantic.

“I’m fine.” 

“My chair would beg to differ,” says Melissa as she points at the ten very conspicuous holes that now adorn the arm rests.

“Sorry,” He clenches his fists, but the claws have now retreated, so there’s only the blunt pressure of his normal, human nails into the palms of his hands. “Sorry,” he repeats, then shakes his head. “I’ll go home. I need some rest.”

Mason exchanges a long, complicated glance with Corey. There some shoulder shrugging, some frantic mouthing of words and then Mason looks back at Liam. “I’ll drive you.”

Liam shakes his head and hastily grabs his backpack and his jacket. “I’ll walk.”

He digs through his pocket and comes up with some crumpled bills and hands them to Mason. “For the pizza.” He shoots another look at the ruined armchair and then offers a sheepish smile to Melissa. “I’ll pay for the damage.”

She waves his words away with her slice of pizza. “The perils of being the host to a pack of werewolves,” she says. 

Except there’s only two werewolves in this Pack right now, and Alec isn’t going around freaking out like a newly-turned Beta and ruining furniture. 

“I’ll— I’ll go,” he gestures vaguely towards the door.

He runs all the way home.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

He’s been trying to fall asleep for so long that it’s now become a matter of who’s the most stubborn: the whirlwind of confused feelings of self-consciousness, anger and inadequacy that seems determined to keep him away the whole night by making him feel guilty over a stupid armchair, or Liam himself, who just wants to go to sleep so he can wake up refreshed and go to school and be bored to death by Biology like any other high school senior whose species isn’t referred to as ‘lore’.

It looks like Liam is losing.

It wasn’t even that nice of an armchair. Probably old too. Melissa could probably just toss a blanket of top of it and call it a day. Liam can even provide said blanket, he can certainly afford to buy one blanket as opposed to a whole new armchair…

He flips the pillow for the thousandth time and lays his cheek on the fresh side. 

On his nightstand, his phone starts vibrating.

He frowns at it uncomprehendingly for so long that whoever’s calling hangs up and the vibrations stop. He scrambles for it and checks the call history.

It’s past 11 at night and Deaton’s just tried to call him.

In under a minute he’s dressed and wearing shoes and climbing out of his bedroom window. He doesn’t dare call back until he’s safely out of his parents’ earshot, but he’s already walking swiftly in the direction of the clinic.

He taps Deaton’s name. It takes two rings before the call goes through.

“I remember a time when an extraordinary and exciting night meant helping a cow with a difficult birth and not unconscious teenagers being brought into my clinic.”

Liam trips over his feet and almost falls to the ground. “Corey?” he asks, heart in his throat. “Alec?”

Not Mason. It can’t be Mason.

“Neither,” Deaton says. “Mr. Raeken, I believe.”

“I’ll be right there.”

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

The mad rush to the clinic has left him breathless, ten long, agonizing minutes of imagining the worst possible scenarios. Maybe Theo’s run into some hunters, maybe he’s been attacked by some other weird and ancient supernatural entity while he was alone because he’s a prideful idiot who can’t fucking ask for help or a place to crash instead of living out of his stupid truck as if he were going to Burning Man or something.

It’s somewhat anticlimactic, then, when he bursts through the entrance and skids around the corner and into the operating room and finds Theo, sitting on a metal gurney, wearing nothing but a pair of green scrubs bottoms and having a conversation with Deaton, calm as you please. He looks fine, with no signs of horrible injuries and he’s certainly not the mess of blood and twisted limbs Liam’s mind has conjured on the way here.

Theo and Deaton both turn to stare at him and now that Liam looks closer, Theo’s right arm does look kind of weird. It’s bent in a way that makes him feel more and more uncomfortable the longer he stares at it, Liam’s brain instinctively telling him that it’s not natural, that bones shouldn’t do that and that arms most definitely don’t work like that.

“Did you run here?” Theo asks, as if Liam were the idiot and not Theo, who’s sitting half naked and with a visibly broken arm in a vet clinic in the middle of the night. His tone is calm and doesn’t betray any of the pain he must certainly be in, but there’s a thin film of sweat that doesn’t have anything to do with the current temperature in the room, and he flinches with every other breath.

“What happened?”

Theo rolls his eyes. “I told him to call you back and tell you to stay put. It’s nothing really.” He raises his shoulders slightly in a suggestion of a shrug. Even that tiny movement seems to cause him pain, though, and he hisses, which is probably the Theo Raeken equivalent of screaming in pain.

There’s no point really, Liam doesn’t even know why he’s trying. He stares straight at Theo until he’s sure he’s got his attention and then he very deliberately turns to Deaton. “What happened?”

Deaton stands next to the metal gurney and Theo, arms crossed and looking way too relaxed and amused for a man who’s presumably been here since early morning.

Now that he thinks about it, Scott’s never specified whether Deaton is human.

“He got hit by a car.”

He blinks, but he’s sure he’s heard correctly. He turns back to Theo. “You got hit by a car.”

“A minivan, if we’re being accurate,” Deaton supplies, helpfully.

Theo glares at him. “I was distracted and it caught me by surprise,” now he’s scowling down at his broken arm, as if being injured were a personal affront to his dignity. “It happens.”

“Fortunately, the man who hit him is a regular contributor to WWF and other wild species preservation NGOs,” Deaton says. “So he brought what he thought was an exemplary of a protected species to the closest vet clinic he could find.”

“Theo Raeken, protected species. Imagine that.”

Theo glares at him. “There are certainly much fewer chimeras than wolves. You could say we’re critically endangered.”

“Yeah, you’re basically extinct in the wild. Maybe we should give WWF a call.”

Deaton clears his voice, drawing Liam’s attention back to him. “Imagine my surprise when I come back to find a naked teenager with a broken arm instead of a wolf.”

“Relax, I’m way past jailbait,” Theo snorts. “All you could ever be accused of is having good taste.”

Deaton doesn’t take the bait. “I didn’t know you could do a full shift.”

“Not many people do.”

Deaton reaches out slowly and gently takes a hold of Theo’s right arm at the wrist. He moves it slightly, but even that small movement causes Theo’s whole body to go rigid. Liam hears the spike in heartbeats and this close he can smell the adrenaline.

Without even thinking, he reaches out and places his right hand on Theo’s shoulder on his uninjured side. He concentrates and pretty soon black tendrils spider up his forearm. He hears Theo’s sigh of relief, his body relaxing in stages.

He raises his eyes to meet Deaton’s frowning ones over Theo’s bent head. “I’m afraid this needs to be rebroken and properly set.” 

Liam nods, pressing his lips in a tight line. Theo’s arm looks kind of gross right now, but he can totally break it if that’s going to help. He reaches for Theo’s wrist, but Deaton moves to intercept. 

“It needs a little more finesse than what you could provide.”

Theo lets out a deep sigh. “This is going to suck, isn’t it?” 

He must have leaned against Liam without him noticing, but now he can feel Theo’s body warmth through the sleeves of his hoodie. Liam steps closer still, the fingers of his right hand closing around Theo’s shoulder tighter and his left hand coming to grasp his forearm. “I can take some of the pain,” he says.

Theo shivers again, but he doesn’t smell like pain anymore. Liam feels the weight of his gaze, but he’s staring at Deaton, waiting for his say so.

Deaton, who sighs and shakes his head with a frown. “I’m more worried about the fact that he’ll start healing too fast after I break his bones and before I can reset them.”

“I don’t heal as fast as a real werewolf.”

“Still, I’d feel more comfortable with a wider margin of error,” Deaton scratches his eyebrows. “You’re immune to mountain ash as far as I understand, but what about wolfsbane? A small amount in a controlled environment could temporarily inhibit your healing capabilities without being fatal.”

Under Liam’s hands, Theo goes completely rigid. His heart starts beating faster and the smell of fear begins emanating from him again. He tries catching Theo’s eyes, but he’s resolutely staring at the floor.

He looks up at Deaton. “Er, could we…” he clears his throat and nods emphatically in Theo’s direction.

With a “I’ll be right back,” Deaton makes himself scarce and Liam and Theo are alone.

Theo’s skin is cold and clammy to the touch, so Liam lets go, takes off his hoodie and plops it on his shoulders, mindful of his injured arm. Theo doesn’t say anything, barely even acknowledging it. Once that’s done, Liam pulls himself up on the gurney to sit next to him.

“What is it?” he asks softly. “You freaked out.”

Theo shoots him a look before going back to stare at the floor. “I’m weaker than an actual werewolf,” he says, softly. 

Liam frowns. “...okay. And?” 

Theo glares at him. “Wolfsbane is more dangerous for me,” he explains, his tone letting Liam know perfectly what he thinks of his mental faculties and deducting skills right now.

“Then we’ll tell Deaton to use very, very little,” Liam says. After a moment, he adds, “you know, he won’t tell anyone about it. Doctor-patient privilege.”

Theo shoots him a withering glare, but Liam keeps his grin plastered on. Theo rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “...okay,” he finally says, with a sigh, eyes intent on where the fingers of his left hand are picking at the zipper of Liam’s hoodie.

“Relax,” Liam bumps their shoulders softly.

The movement jolts Theo’s broken arm and he hisses in pain. “Watch it, asshole!”

“Sorry!”

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


 

An hour later, Theo’s arm is set and slowly healing. He’s still loopy with wolfsbane, though, and Deaton offers him a place to sleep on what looks like a camp bed he keeps in the clinic ‘for emergencies’, whatever those are. Liam manages to help Theo into an hospital green top and then, ignoring Theo’s mumbled protests, into his hoodie. 

“I’m going to bed,” Deaton says. 

He zips up the hoodie and pushes Theo back. Theo gives an affronted yelp and flails ungracefully as he falls against the pillow. He’s about to go grab a blanket when he realizes that Deaton hasn’t moved yet.

He turns to find himself on the receiving end of an expectant look. “Oh!”

Deaton arches an eyebrow. “Oh.”

Liam nods at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll close up,” he tells him. “I have the keys.”

“Of course you do,” Deaton sighs, shaking his head.

He does leave, however. Liam grabs the blanket from where it’s neatly folded on the counter and shakes it out. He carefully covers Theo with it. His breathing and heartbeat are slow, but that could be an after effect of the wolfsbane still in his body. His eyes are closed, though, so he  _ might _ be sleeping. Or at least that’s what Liam tells himself as he reaches to tuck him in, feeling vaguely guilty as if he were doing something forbidden.

Theo doesn’t move, though, so he gives his shoulder an awkward pat before uncurling from his crouch. “Well,” he says and then winches as his voice sounds too loud. “I’m off.”

He almost doesn’t feel the feathery soft touch against his calf. When he looks down, he finds Theo looking up at him, his eyes thin slits, unfocused and shiny in the darkness. The fingers touching his calf tremble with the effort of reaching out and drop after a moment.

“‘S late,” he mumbles, voice soft.

“Yeah.”

“School night,” Theo says, the way his voice is wavering is making it difficult to guess whether it’s a statement or a question, though he’s probably not so high on wolfsbane that he’s forgotten what day it is.

“Indeed,” Liam says checking his phone. “Aaand I need to be awake in less than four hours.”

“You didn’t need to come, ‘m fine.”

Liam takes in the way Theo is struggling to even stay conscious, how he shakes his head and frowns at the effort. “I can definitely see that,” he snorts. “What were you even doing as a wolf?”

“Hunting,” Theo replies, as if that were a perfectly reasonable explanation. He’s struggling to sit up on his elbows, but Liam is quicker and stops him.

“Hunting. Right.” He pushes Theo back.

He’s trying to tuck his arms back under the covers — getting a drugged chimera to cooperate shouldn’t be this difficult — when Theo grabs his wrist.

“Liam.”

He looks up to find Theo giving him a small, loopy smile. His eyes shine and he’s fighting to keep them open.

Liam finds he can’t bear to keep looking and drops his gaze to Theo’s fingers twitching around his wrist. “Yeah?” he croaks.

“Thanks.”

Theo pats his wrist a couple of times. He’s so uncoordinated that he almost pokes him in the eye. Liam grabs the flopping hand and shoves it under the covers and then he pulls the blanket up and tucks it in, making sure all of Theo is covered.

“Sure. Anytime.” He even means it, he realizes.

“Okay,” comes Theo’s sleepy reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be away for the next three weeks and I don't know if I'll be able to post updates. Sorry!


	6. The way to inner peace, one punch at a time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is angry. A tree, a chimera and a truck were harmed during the making of this film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that Liam's anger gets a little out of control in this chapter and it results in violence, nothing that hasn't already happened in the show, though.

Wolfsbane is one hell of a drug. Theo wakes up terribly thirsty, with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, but he’s slept uninterrupted and he doesn’t feel exhausted for the first time in weeks. Maybe he can talk Deaton into parting with some, for medicinal purposes. He drinks some water from the water cooler in the waiting room and then uses the toilet.

He folds the blanket neatly and leaves it on the camp bed, then switches the lights off and leaves the room. He makes sure the back door clicks shut behind him and after checking that there’s no one around and that he’s not in range of any cameras, he shifts and runs back to his truck, leaving the scrubs behind on the ground, but with Liam’s hoodie carefully clutched in his jaws.

He makes sure he checks both ways to cross any road he comes across and in under twenty minutes he’s back to his car. He quickly changes back and dresses in his work clothes. He checks his phone on the off chance that the charge has somehow survived the night, but the screen remains resolutely black.

This time, he makes sure to shove it in his pocket along with the charger, so he can plug it in at work.

His stomach growls in protest, but he can go one day without food and can’t afford to use the last of his cash for anything other than gas for the truck. He should probably start sleeping closer to work, actually, though the nightly visit from the police might become frequent once again. 

He needs to last just until the end of the week, then he’ll have some cash for human food and fuel.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


He’s the first to arrive, but not by much. Joe gets there about fifteen minutes after him and after that the others come slowly trickling in. The only one he’s interested in, however, is Rich and he makes a point of keeping an eye on him throughout the day.

Now that he’s realized who he is, he wonders how he could’ve missed it in the first place. It’s also obvious that he recognizes Theo too, though he’s not as good as him in making himself inconspicuous in his scrutiny.

He’s so bad at it that even the others seem to have twigged on it. At some point, Paul nudges him with his elbow and nods towards Rich who’s staring at Theo so intently he’s frozen in the act of eating his lunch.

“Seems you have an admirer, kid,” Paul says in his gruff baritone and then laughs out loud, slapping his shoulder almost too hard. It’d have definitely hurt, had Theo been a normal human.

Theo makes sure to catch Rich’s eye and then he gives him a theatrical wink, startling him into almost dropping his sandwich. Next to him, Paul roars with laughter. 

Rich doesn’t look his way for the rest of the day.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


When 6 p.m. comes, Theo grabs his now fully charged phone from Joe’s office and hurries to his truck. Rich usually leaves a little after the hour, so Theo has enough time to make a show of leaving and then he parks in a side street with perfect view of the building site exit.

He follows Rich at a distance to a nice but sparsely inhabited area, half an hour away from work. He takes note of where Rich parks and drives a little further, parking once he feels he’s reached a safe distance while still having the house in full view.

He locks the truck and hurries back to the house he’s seen Rich disappear into. He makes sure to remain hidden by weaving through the hedges and fences and gets as close as he dares. The house doesn’t look like much, about twenty years old, but still in respectable shape. All the curtains are drawn and the only light comes from a window upstairs.

He positions himself downwind, but he gets no unusual scents so he trots back to his truck and prepares himself for a few hours of staking out the place. He should probably take note of the cars parked close to the house, but he doesn’t have pen and paper so he takes out his phone and finally turns it on.

As soon as it connects to the network, he receives more than twenty notifications between missed calls and texts that Liam has tried to get in touch with him.

The texts are a worrying escalation starting from ‘everything okay?’, going to ‘where are you?’ and ending in several ‘call me!’ and ‘THEO’s. There’s nothing alluding to any danger in particular that Liam and the others might be facing right now.

He’s frowning down at his phone pondering whether he should maybe call back, when it suddenly starts vibrating in his hands, startling him. He yelps and jolts in his seat, losing his grip on the phone and dropping it in the footwell where it keeps on vibrating angrily.

With a curse, he dives down after it, hitting his head in the steering wheel and almost getting stuck in the process.

And to think that not even a year ago he managed to kill an Alpha werewolf.

He finally retrieves the phone and he accepts the call without even checking who it is. Not that there are many people willing to talk to him.

“What?” he barks as he rights himself and resettles to watch the house.

“Where the hell were you?” Liam’s voice comes through, angry.

“At work,” he growls. It’s not like he has to answer to anybody. After his help with the Ghost Riders and the Anuk-ite and the hunters, he considers his debts pretty much paid and at the time it seemed that Scott was of the same opinion. And yet here he is, still in Beacon Hill, still at the beck and call of Liam and the others, for whatever reason. “Phone battery was dead,” he adds after a moment, despite himself.

“Oh, thank  _ god _ ,” the genuine relief in Liam’s rush of breath takes him completely by surprise. Liam being worried about him doesn’t sound like a thing that’s possible. “Wait, you have a job? Then why are you still sle- Never mind! How are you feeling?”

It takes a moment for Theo to realize that he’s been asked a question in the avalanche of words that pours from the phone. He takes the phone away from his ear and frowns down at it, but no, it’s definitely Liam that’s calling.

“Theo?” comes his tinny voice from the phone loudspeaker.

He puts the call on speaker and tosses the phone on top of the dash to free his hands so he can pretend to be reading while keeping an eye on the house. He grabs one of the books that he stole from the school library a couple of months ago and sets it against the steering wheel, pretending to be very interested in marine biology.

“I’m fine,” he says, before Liam can panic again. Then he frowns and pats his stomach. “A bit hungry, actually.”

“Okay?” There’s some noises then, like things being moved around and Liam cursing under his breath. “So, where do you work?”

What’s this? Are they doing small talk now? It doesn’t feel like it, though. Liam isn’t the type to go through a few pleasantries just to be polite before he comes out with whatever request he has for him. He doesn’t seem to have any qualms ordering Theo around.

“Construction site in the warehouse district. I mostly move stuff around,” he says. “It’s only the second day.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“I guess.”

They both fall silence, then. There are more unidentified noises of stuff being moved around. A door closes, some muffled voices, too distant for Theo to make them out.

“Are you home?” he asks before he can think about it.

“Yeah.”

“School okay?” his mouths blurts out, independently from Theo’s brain. What does he care if Liam’s doing okay in school? He should be telling him about the hunter and ask if there’s been any other progress with his teacher.

His dignity is saved by Liam completely misinterpreting his question. “Not a peep from Ms. Jones. She seems clean.”

Theo flips a page in his book. He stares at an image depicting the cross section of a blue whale before going back to stare at the house.

“Did you know that blue whales are apparently the largest animals to have ever lived?”

“Or at least that’s what the others—I’m sorry, what?”

Theo sighs, closes the book and tosses it on the passenger seat. He sits back, drawing a knee up against the wheel and leaning on it with his elbow. In the house, the light goes off in the second floor and after a few moments, another one switches on on the first floor. Rich’s probably had his shower and he’s now preparing his dinner. 

Theo himself is in dire need of a shower and some food, but instead he’s stuck in his truck watching a house like a stalker and having a very confusing conversation with Liam. 

“There’s this guy at work,” he says. “He’s a hunter. He was at the Sheriff station.”

“Oh. Did he recognize you?” 

“From the way he stares at me, I’d say so,” he checks the cars parked closest to Rich’s house and makes a note of their license plates in his phone. “Either that or he  _ really _ likes barely legal teenagers.”

“And what’s that got to do with blue whales?”

“That was just an interesting fact about blue whales,” he says. “I followed him home, but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything interest- Liam?” He shoots up in his seat.

On Liam’s side of the call there’s the noise of quick footsteps, a door slamming and then voices shouting, one of them being Liam’s, but Theo can’t make out anything more than that. 

“Liam?” he tries again. On their own accord, his hands have gone to grip the wheel and the key in the ignition, ready to start the engine at a moment’s notice. He’s mentally calculating how long it’ll take him to drive to Liam’s at the max speed he’s legally allowed when he hears steps getting closer and then Liam’s back on the phone.

“Something came up,” he growls. His voice is tight with barely restrained anger, but he doesn’t sound nervous or scared. “I’ll call you back in a bit.”

And then the call ends.

He drops his forehead to the wheel and groans. His hands and feet make the decision for him, though, and when his phone starts vibrating with a call again, he’s already halfway to Liam’s house.

Theo scrambles to get the phone before it vibrates off the dash and sets the call to speaker.

“Hey, Li—”

Liam cuts him off. “Come pick me up,” he says, without preambles.

“Don’t you have a car? I’m not your private chauffeur,” he retorts angrily, as if he weren’t a five minute’s drive away already.

“My parents won’t let me drive when I’m this angry,” Liam growls. Theo can picture it perfectly, the way Liam must be shaking, his fists clenched and claws digging into his palms.

“No magic wo-” he starts, but Liam’s already hung up.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


He’s barely come to halt before Liam’s nice house, when the door bursts open and he comes stomping out, visibly furious. Theo sees a flash of yellow and even from this far he can make out the fangs in Liam’s snarl. 

Liam’s mother comes running out after him, but stops as soon as she sees him approaching Theo’s truck.

The door is wrenched open with a groan of metal and Liam throws himself into the passenger seat, his scent a whirlwind of rage and anger. He slams the door with more force than what’s probably necessary and starts tugging angrily on the seat belt.

“Yeah, ripping it off is gonna work,” Theo tells him. “You want to try and slam the door some more too, while we’re at it?”

Liam’s head whips around, his eyes yellow with rage and his teeth gritted in a growl. “Drive!” he roars, slapping a hand on the dash so hard that the plastic cracks under the abuse.

“Watch it, Dunbar!” Theo roars back. He grabs the buckle from Liam’s hand and clicks it home. “What the hell? What’s going on?”

Liam is fast and Theo’s been lulled into a false sense of security by the way he’s been acting friendly towards Theo lately, so he doesn’t expect the hand that grabs him at the base of his neck, claws digging in and startling a cry out of him. Liam forces him to turn his head to face forward if he doesn’t want get his neck broken.

“Shit! Alright, alright! Watch the claws!” He guns the engine and skids away from the curb. 

As soon as he feels a safe distance away from the house and Liam’s mother’s eyes, he lashes out with his right hand, landing a powerful blow to Liam’s solar plexus and causing him to fold in half as the breath whooshes out of him. The claws at the back of neck are torn away painfully.

Theo grimaces at the feeling of blood trailing down his back, but when he shoots a glance at the passenger seat, Liam seems to have calmed down slightly, his now totally human hand rubbing at his sternum. The nails are stained with Theo’s blood.

“So? Where am I going?” Theo asks, reaching back to check his wounds, but they must be deeper than he thought as his hand comes back with fresh blood. “Am I kidnapping you? Are you kidnapping me? Is this a thing that’s happening?”

Liam rolls his eyes at him and huffs as he slumps back into the seat, arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t care, just drive,” he says, then he sniffs the air and turns to frown at Theo. “You stink.”

“Wow. See if I don’t kick you out of the moving car.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Liam growls and moves, fast as lightning again, but this time his claws dig into his thigh, right above the knee. Theo gasps and lurches forward, the movement making the car swerve. It’s a small miracle there’s no one in the opposite lane.

“Fuck! Are you trying to get us killed?!”

Liam takes a breath and retracts the hand, though his body is still visibly tense. “Shit. Sorry. I-” he trails off and pulls away.

Theo chances a look down and finds five small, bloody holes in his overalls leg. He doubts Joe will give him another set when he hasn’t been there even a week, but the damage isn’t too bad and it should be easy to repair.

He hears muttering and looks over at the passenger seat to find Liam shaking all over and muttering what sounds like his mantra. It doesn’t seem to be working, though: the tendons on his neck look like they’re about to snap and he’s dug the claws of both hands into his thighs.

“Hey,” he says quietly. Liam shoots a look at him. His eyes are wide, irises shining yellow. “I was watching that guy’s house. I went straight from work, so I didn’t have time to shower.”

Theo has to look back at the road, or they  _ are _ going to crash and die and Stiles would go all ‘I told you so’. He listens as Liam’s heartbeat slowly calms down and he can almost hear the tension leave his muscles.

“Sorry,” Liam says then, softly, and when Theo looks over he finds him staring at his neck.

When he reaches out towards him, Theo flinches back in reflex, but Liam carries on resolutely with only a second’s hesitation. His fingers brush lightly against the back of Theo’s neck, before pressing down more firmly but gently still. 

Theo is staring forward, so he doesn’t get any warning before Liam takes his pain. It’s nothing like when Deucalion did it to him, nor like last night. Even though both times it’s been the agony of a broken arm rather than the lingering ache from a scratch, it’s so much more overwhelming now. It hums under his skin and sets the fine hair on the back of his head on end, spreading like a warm wave down his back and leaving him gasping.

The hand leaves. “Theo?” Liam asks, voice soft and unsure.

For some unfathomable reason, Theo’s tearing up. He desperately tries to blink the fogginess away and perhaps spends a little too long checking there’s no one coming from their left at the intersection.

“I’m fine,” he says and when it comes out as nothing more than a croak Liam doesn’t comment on it.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


Without any other direction from Liam other than ‘drive’, Theo takes them to his spot, at the edge of the preserve. It's far away from the main road that they won't be seen, but it's close enough to civilization that there's still a road. He drives to a small clearing and Liam bursts out the truck before it comes to a stop.

Theo turns off the engine and watches silently for a moment as he rushes to a tree and punches it with all of his might. The thwap of his knuckles hitting the bark is audible even from inside the truck and the roar that Liam lets out probably scares all the wild animals in a mile radius.

He turns to the back seats and reaches blindly for the gym bag where he keeps his clothes. He grabs a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt that are still mostly clean and quickly changes out of his overalls, before jumping out of the truck and making his way to Liam, who's been taking out his anger on the poor, innocent tree the whole time.

Liam's breath is coming in gasps and his heart is beating worryingly fast. The tree groans under the blows, but even so Liam's hand is going to break before the tree does.

Theo should probably step in before things get ugly.

"Well, I guess I should probably be thankful that's not me," he says. "Or some hunter kid."

Liam lets out a roar and punches blindly one last time before slumping against the tree, bloody hands hanging limpy at his sides. His breath comes in heaves however, dangerously close to hyperventilating, and his heartbeat is roaring in Theo's ears, drowning every other sound.

"Liam?" he tries, taking a step closer. He reaches out slowly, fingers barely brushing against the inside of Liam's wrist. "Come on, repeat after me. The sun, the moon, the—"

Liam flinches and snaps around, uncoiling like a spring. "Shut up!" he yells, and Theo feels the pain blooming on his cheek before he realizes he's been hit.

He has the vague impression of Liam's wide, surprised eyes, before he stumbles back under the force of the blow and trips over his own feet, hitting the ground hard and getting the breath knocked out of him.

He should have just tried his luck hitchhiking to Nevada or something, really. Fuck Beacon Hills and fuck Scott McCall and his fucking Pack. He's ditching town as soon as he gets his first paycheck.

"Fuck you, Dunbar," he groans, gingerly feeling around his cheekbone. Bright, intense pain sparks on the whole left side of his face, making him gasp in pain and his vision go spotty. "See if I ever fucking try to help you again.”

Through the blurry haze of his tears, he sees Liam staring down at him, body trembling with rage still, but his eyes are terrified. He looks panicked and his whooshing breaths make it sound like he’s just run a marathon. 

He’s seen that look on Liam once before, when they were at the zoo, when Liam almost killed that hunter kid. There’s no one to knock Liam out this time, though, Theo has only himself.

“Well, you got the location and victim right this time, I gotta give you that.” He takes a look around, pretending to consider their surroundings. “No one for miles and a guy who not only no one would miss, but who’s technically already dead…” he frowns, “as for witnesses, would you say your mother would testify in your favor in a court of law? Will your eyes turn blue, I wonder.”

Liam lets out a soft whine and deflates suddenly, almost crumpling onto himself into a crouching position next to him. He reaches out, but stops as soon as Theo flinches, right hand hovering between them.

"Let me," he says, "before it heals wrong and I have to break it again."

Theo does his best to glare at him, but his cheek hurts even more with the effort and ultimately it's just not worth it. He sits up slowly with Liam's help. “If you ruined my perfect bone structure I’m gonna kick your ass.”

Liam's fingers are spidery soft on his face, one hand at his jaw, keeping his head steady, while the other goes to his broken left cheekbone. "Ready?" he asks and, without waiting for a reply, he moves quickly. The scrape of bone sliding back into place sends shivers down his spine, but there's no pain at all, only warmth, spreading from Liam's left hand as it cradles his jaw.

He looks down to see the black tendrils on the back of Liam's scraped hand. He chokes back a gasp and jolts back, breaking the contact.

Liam frowns at him, confused, but he draws back and sits down, perpendicular to him. He pats Theo's shoulder, reassuringly. "There, your ridiculous cheekbones are fine," he says, deadpan, but he chuckles and ducks when Theo swats at his head.

He feels around his cheek, but everything does indeed seem to be as it should be and the pain is gone. He scratches at the dried blood and then nudges Liam's back with his knee. "So, want to tell me what the hell was all that about?"

Liam looks sideways at him, holding his gaze for a long moment. His eyes are back to blue and he's calm now, but there's something unreadable in them. Something that traps Theo's breath in his throat. It's only a moment, though, then Liam looks away again and hangs his head down.

"I'm leaving Beacon Hills." It's soft, toneless, and for a moment Theo is absolutely certain that he's the one to have said it, but then it's Liam's voice that continues, "my parents... We're leaving."

Theo's head starts ringing, he still hasn't taken a breath, he's drowning. He can't be possibly be here, hearing this. He tries swallowing the dryness in his mouth away, but he only succeeds in gasping soundlessly.

Liam's got his hands in his hands now. "Does Mason know? Does Scott know?" 

Liam shakes his head. “Why do you think I’m here with you?” He chokes out.

Why is he, indeed? Probably for Theo’s newfound virtues as a punching bag.

He sits up sharply, tries grabbing Liam’s arm to get him to turn around, but he doesn't want to hurt him and Liam is stronger and doesn't budge. He smells salt and he realizes with a jolt that Liam's crying. "You can't leave! Liam, you can't—"

He tastes the bile on his tongue, the fear is for Theo's own benefit than that of Beacon Hills and for that of a Pack that doesn't really want him. If Liam leaves, then Theo is alone. Then he thinks about Liam moving who knows where and even if he ends up staying in California, it's not the same as leaving for college. Liam is going to end up somewhere as a lone omega and this, right now, is a terrible moment for Theo to realize that maybe he's not very good at being the selfish asshole he's desperately trying to be.

Liam's head bobs up and down, his fingers tracing messy groves into his hair. "I know," he sniffs.

"You have to tell your parents."

Liam snorts at that, but he's not crying anymore. He uses the collar of his shirt to dry his damp cheeks. "I know," he says and then he lies down, next to Theo.

Their shoulders are about a foot apart and even though Liam's hand is barely an inch away from his, they aren't touching. "I don't want to drag them into this," he whispers. "They'll freak out."

They lie like that, their pinkies decidedly not touching and making Theo hyperaware at the non-contact, his skin burning with the warmth that's only a hairbreadth away. Liam's heart is beating quickly and loudly in his ears, and he's sure that Liam can hear Theo's own heart beating just as fast.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


Afterwards, when they're back in the truck, Liam is silent a long time and despite Theo's finances being what they are, he indulges him and waits until he's ready, engine idling.

“My parents are probably worried by now."

Theo takes that as his clue, reverses and gets them back on the road. It's late and the streets are mostly empty.

“If I get arrested for kidnapping a minor, I’m kicking your ass.”

Liam must feel better because he makes a big show of rolling his eyes at him. “Relax, Raeken," he huffs, but he sounds amused. "They know I'm with a friend.”

Theo blinks and can't help the surprised hum that escapes his lips, unbidden. When he shoots a quick glance his way, though, Liam's staring ahead, expression neutral.

“Oh,” is all Theo can say, mind completely blank.

“And besides, I’m 18 now.”

When they come to a stop in front of the house, the light on the porch is on and a curtain moves behind one of the windows. A few moments later, Liam's step-father appears on the door. He doesn't move past the threshold, but the relief is obvious in his body language. Liam gives him a small wave, before turning to Theo.

"Sorry again about your neck. And your leg," he does look a bit sheepish, but then he grins and doesn't look apologetic at all. "And your precious bone structure."

"You ruined it, Dunbar."

The grin smoothes out in a smile. "Thanks," he says. "But you really should take a shower."

"You're welcome, asshole."

Theo reaches across the seats and swats him in the side of his head. This time, Liam doesn't duck, his laugh filling the truck to the point that it feels like there's no air left for Theo's lungs.

"See you!"

Liam jumps out and still slams the door a little too forcefully, but he's still smiling a little when he reaches his father side. They both turn to wave at him, on the threshold, Liam's step-dad's arm around his shoulder, and Theo can barely manage a nod in response, choking on air even though he hasn't said anything.

He drives to the school and breaks into the locker rooms.

He has a long, hot shower in the darkness and tries not to think about the blades of grass under his palm, Liam's heartbeat in his ears and the body thrumming with life and warmth next to him.

He fails completely when he goes to dress himself and finds that he's accidentally grabbed the hoodie Liam's leant to him when he spent the night the animal clinic. In all the commotion earlier, he’s forgotten to give it back. Liam's scent still lingers and envelops him like a tangible presence, making his knees buckle and making him stumble into a wall.

He's better than this, he should be more in control. Ever since he's come back everything feels more real, somehow, senses and emotions alike. He feels raw and new and it's  _ exhausting _ . Sometimes he wishes he wanted to go back to the other Theo that existed before. It'd be easier in some ways, he suspects, but even if he wanted to he doesn't really remember how to be that other him. He can't seem to reconcile the person he is with the one he was, if that could even be called a person.

And he's trying really hard to be a person now.

A sob strangles its way past his lips and it echoes, horrible and loud in the empty school halls. When he touches his cheeks he's shocked to find he's crying.

He lets out another sob that turns into another and then a roar that shakes the glass panes the trophy case. He kicks a trash bin so hard that it bounces off the wall and hits a vending machine, cracking the glass.

He freezes and listens carefully, but no one seems to be coming to investigate. No one ever really wants to investigate strange noises in Beacon Hills, it seems. Not for the first time, it works to his advantage. 

His breath has calmed down from the harsh gasps and he's left staring at the metal bin, wedged sideways in the shattered plexiglass.

His stomach lets out an agonized growl so loud that it startles a laugh out of him.

He shrugs and walks over to pry open the pane of spidery glass first and the security metal net second. He helps himself to several protein bars and some sweets as well as a couple bottles of water.

Half an hour later he's found a secluded place within walking distance of his job. He's settled for the night, doors locked, shoes off and nestled under two blankets. He munches on one of his stolen protein bars as he considers sending the text he's just typed. He frowns down at the words, searching them for some hidden, subconscious meaning that might've ended up in them.

He swallows the last of the snack and then crumples the wrapping, tossing it in the vague direction of the passenger seat. He hits Send and then turns off his phone, slipping it under the jacket he's using as a pillow.

He wonders if he should send a copy to Scott as well, but he falls asleep before he comes to a decision.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


**To Mason Hewitt:** ****  
_ Liam needs to tell you something. _ _   
_ 23:47

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


He wakes up choking on blood that isn't really there and can't sleep for the rest of the night.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to find time to post this chapter, but there might be some formatting fuck ups, please let me know, in case.
> 
> Next chapter should be up in 10 days or so.


	7. Hashtag asshole problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason mounts an intervention. Liam desperately wants burgers even though he should know better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, and with good news! The fic is basically finished, except for a couple of chapters and then it's just a question of editing and keeping up the posting schedule. Enjoy. :)

The passenger seat is curiously Corey-less - he’s not even invisible, he’s made sure to listen for an heartbeat - when Mason comes to a stop in front of Liam's house. He gets in with some difficulty, wrestling his lacrosse bag into place between his legs and hitting himself in the face with the stick. Twice. He usually sits in the back, with plenty of space for  _ both _ his and Corey's bags. 

There's no sign of him anywhere, though, except for his lingering scent coming strongest from the back seat together with—

Liam grabs the seatbelt and tugs so forcefully that he almost dislocates his shoulder. At Mason's shrill 'Liam!' he buckles up more gently with one hand while jabbing the the button to roll down his window with the other.

Mason narrows his eyes at him, but doesn't say anything.

"So, ah...Everything okay?"

Mason drives off the curb and shrugs. "Sure."

"Riiiiiight. And where's Corey?"

"Not here," Mason replies, without even looking at him. Liam's known him for a long time, so he can tell that Mason is mad at him for some reason, but unless he still isn't over his small - so tiny as to be insignificant, really - bout of criminal activity, Liam really can't see the cause.

"I can see that," he says. Maybe Mason isn't specifically angry at Liam, maybe he's just angry. Maybe he's angry at Corey and wants some best friend support. Though he can't possibly imagine what Corey's done to anger him, or anybody really. Even when they were technically on opposite sides it was impossible to be mad at Corey. Still, the role of a best friend sometimes requires just being supportive and nothing else. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Is there anything  _ you  _ want to talk about?" 

"...no?"

They stop at a red light, so abruptly that Liam's seat belt pulls taut against his chest. Mason fishes his phone out of his pocket, scrolls through it until he finds what he’s looking for and then he drops it into Liam’s lap. 

Liam picks it up gingerly, dreading whatever he may find, but he’s not prepared to see a message thread started by someone who Mason has named ‘Psycho drama killer queen’ followed by two skull emojis. 

Mason should really give Theo a chance.

There’s only one text in the thread, from last night.

“That traitorous bastard-”

“Oh, so he’s the traitor now!” Mason floors the gas as soon as the light turns green, causing Liam to reflexively go for the grab handle. “First you go on secret missions with him without telling me anything and now apparently I have to rely on him to tell me what’s going on with  _ my _ best friend!”

But Theo hasn’t said, has he? Liam frantically double-checks the message thread, but no, there’s only that one message. Mason hasn’t even replied.

“Now, don’t blow this out of proportions… He was just  _ there _ ,” though that’s perhaps not entirely true. Liam was on the phone with him when his parents finally decided to tell him the news, but he called him on purpose afterward. He was so angry and terrified that he wouldn’t be able to hide from his parents, and lately Theo’s been the only one who manages at least partially to calm him down.

“He—what?” Mason sputters. “I’m the one who’s always there, Liam! Why would you even go to him for something that isn’t punching people or move really heavy things?”

“It kind of was?” 

Mason glares at him and seems on the verge of saying something, but then he deflates and lets out a defeated sigh. “I just…You know you can tell me anything, right?” he’s calmed down, but he sounds sad now. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with Corey lately, but I’m here whenever you need it.”

“Come on, Mase,” he nudges him with his elbow. “The big bad evil Theo isn’t trying to steal your best friend.”

“It’s not that at all! How would you feel if I went to Nolan for advice?”

“Advi—It’s not like that. I’m not even sure we’re  _ actually _ friends,” he frowns, trying to find a fitting word. “We’re sort of…allies?”

It doesn’t really work, though. Not when he remembers Theo’s soft, tired voice when he was tired and drugged and vulnerable in Deaton’s clinic, or Theo’s heart, beating in time with his as they stared at the sky the night before.

Mason doesn’t sound too convinced, either. “...allies.”

“Look, I just got really angry yesterday,” he mumbles, staring out of the window. Mason can’t hear his heartbeat, but with what he calls his ‘best friend powers’ he can certainly tell when Liam’s being purposefully evasive. “I needed to punch something, so I called him.”

“Uh, don’t you have a mantra for when you get all...growly?” Mason shoots him a worried glance. “I thought we were past the control issues?”

“So, about my mantra…”

“Yeah?”

“It kinda…doesn’t work anymore?”

“What?!” Mason’s shriek isn’t werewolf-friendly at all and he’s staring at Liam as if he’d just announced he wanted to quit lacrosse and pick up basket weaving instead.

“The road! Watch the road!”

Mason’s head snaps back to the road. “Since when?”

“Ever since the Anuk-ite and B-Brett and Lori.” He looks away, but he knows that Mason is looking at him with pity. “There’s this....rage brewing. It’s not as violent as before, but I can’t seem to keep it down. I tried with the mantra and Scott helped a bit at the time, but...it just hasn’t been having much of an effect…”

“The armchair.”

“Yeah, for example,” he shrugs. “And Theo...I don’t know, he somehow makes it work? I didn’t think much of it at first, but it’s happened several times now, and...I don’t know. It just works."

Mason drives in silence for a minute, then he takes a deep, deliberate breath, seemingly coming to a decision. He puts the blinker on and swerves right, parking awkwardly to the side of the road and causing a couple of cars to honk angrily at them. He takes off his seat belt and turns around to face Liam with a serious frown.

Liam leans back against his door, grabbing his own seat belt to keep it from cutting painfully into his neck. “Mason? We’re gonna be late for school.”

“Theo.”

“Yes?”

“Theo Raeken.”

“...yes?”

“The psycho kill—” Liam is about to retort, when Mason puts up a hand to stop him. “I’m sorry, the psycho asshole,  _ that _ Theo Raeken is now your  _ anchor _ ?”

Liam’s mouth works to form words but no wound actually comes out. He tries to think of anything, anything at all that he can say and have it make sense, because at least one of them should be saying sensible things in this car and since Mason apparently has just decided that the role doesn’t fit him anymore, it all falls to Liam.

“ _ What _ ?!” his screech hurts his own ears. “No! This isn’t—it’s not like that at all!  _ No _ !”

Mason gives him a long look and then opens his mouth and more nonsensical words come spilling out, “because it does sound pretty much like that, yes.”

What does Mason even know about anchors? He’s human! It’s true that at any given moment he’s bound to know more about the supernatural than Liam does, but he does spend an inordinate amount of time consulting books from the supernatural section while Liam has lacrosse practice, so that’s really an unfair advantage. The werewolf thing, though, that’s Liam’s.

“It’s not really—” he growls in frustration. There are no words for it. Sometimes Theo calms him and sometimes he makes him rage even more. “Look, sometimes we just fight.”

“You fight.”

“Yeah, like yesterday. I hit a tree a bit and then Theo and then I calmed down.”

Mason makes a thoughtful noise. “You’re right, that doesn’t sound like an anchor.”

“Exactly!” Liam nods. “The same happened when I attacked Nolan, he had to knock me out. Those are extreme cases, he usually just—I dunno, he makes the anger disappear?”

Mason blinks at him. “Okay, no.  _ That _ sounds like an anchor.”

“No! That—” he scratches his head and then he remembers that he’s put gel on, so he smooths his hair down again, probably making more of a mess. “He once told me that people only really feel one thing at a time and it’s kind of like that.” 

He thinks on how to put it into words. He’s never really looked closer at it, to be perfectly honest. He’s basically just realized that Theo’s become his sort-of-like-an-anchor-but-not-really, so he figures he’s in the positive when it comes to having epiphanies and he shouldn’t be forced into even more navel gazing. Not when he has so much on his plate between the senior year, his parents wanting to move away, his stand-in Alpha duties and having to see Nolan at every Pack meeting.

“He just talks about me killing people and he forces me to think about the consequences, but not in a ‘oh if you kill someone, that’ll make your eyes turn blue and Scott will hate you’. More like how to get rid of bodies and witnesses, the tools we’d need, like it’s a puzzle we have to solve to avoid going to prison.”

Mason gapes and does a sort of panicked version of jazz hands. “None of what you just said even remotely reassures me.”

"Though most times I still punch him," he admits. He should probably dial that back a bit. It's true that Theo heals and is probably owed a punch or twelve for all the shit he's pulled in the past, but he's trying now and if they're to be sort of friends, positive reinforcement over violent and explosive deterrent is perhaps the way to go. 

What would work though? Scientists use food to reward animals, but all Liam knows about Theo and food is that he eats mushroom soup and it's doubtful it would work as a treat.

He clears his throat and settles on, "it’s a work in progress.”

Mason groans. "So Theo is what, distracting you with the logistics of escaping with murder?" He pinches the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut. "Right. Deep breaths, Mason. Deeeep breaths." He does then take a couple of deep breaths, before turning into his seat and buckling up.

He stops, then, with one hand on the wheel and the other on the key. "Was this what he meant in the text?" he asks. He doesn't sound too suspicious and Liam could probably get away with it if he said yes, and then they'd drive to school and he wouldn't have to think about it for the day.

But while Theo might be the guy who calms Liam the werewolf down, Mason is the best friend who stood by Liam the teenager with IED. He should've told him first, but there's no going back now.

"My parents..." he starts. "They got really scared about the whole hunters thing. Especially since we were at the hospital. Scott's mom told my dad it wasn't that bad, but still..."

Mason hums in agreement. "Ohhh  _ yeah _ . My mom went crazy there for a bit. I mean, not that I blame her. Remember when we used to freak out about failing math?"

"You still freak out about failing math."

"Yeah, well, but going after human personifications of fear with only a baseball bat and Theo as a human shield has put things into perspective," Mason grins sideways at him. "I've grown as a person. I'm now fine with a barely passing grade."

Despite the situation  _ and _ the fact that he still hasn't talked to his parents hanging over his head like a sword of Damocles, Liam feels some of the apprehension leaving him. His life is crazy, likely about to get crazier still, but at least he has Mason and his inherited baseball bat. He sighs.

"That sounded heavy."

"My parents are talking about moving to Boston," he says in a rush. "Dad is looking at a couple of openings over there."

"You can't go to Boston, it's in another time zone!"

"That's what's bothering you?"

"We can't have the protector of Beacon Hills be in another time zone!" Liam frowns and mumbles the 'protector' part without much conviction, but Mason has already moved on to the next bit. "And I’d miss you! You have to tell them!"

"Yeah, that's what Theo said too."

Mason looks affronted, but it's just for a moment. "He has good ideas sometimes," he says then, evenly.

"Wow, did you break anything admitting that?"

"Working together is better for the safety of Beacon Hills, I guess," Mason tells him, gunning the engine. "We need to set an example for the younger generations."

"Alec is only a year younger and Nolan is our age," Liam points out.

"We're going to be late for school, Liam."

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Liam leaves Mason and Corey to coo all over each other and rushes past the crowd of students, making a beeline for his locker. He walks around two maintenance guys carrying what looks like a pane of plexiglass and he comes to a sudden halt when he finds himself face to face with none other than Ms. Jones. 

Somebody bumps into him and then bounces back when he doesn't even budge. There's a muttered curse, half-annoyed half-surprised and then the other student moves past Liam, shooting him a glare as he goes on his way.

Maybe they've crossed paths by accident, maybe Ms. Jones isn't here for Liam, maybe it's just by chance that she's walking towards him and staring straight at him, and also calling his name.

"Mr. Dunbar," she says. "I don't believe you're in my class, but I make it a point to get to know all of the students in the school where I work."

"Oh?" He says, intelligently.

Her scent doesn't give off any emotion in particular. In fact, she doesn't smell like much, just a vague hint of neutral soap and no perfume whatsoever. It makes a nice change for Liam's heightened sense of smell.

Ms. Jones is still addressing him and he tries to look interested but also vaguely bored. Here's a teacher with whom he has  _ no ties whatsoever _ , so he needs to look the part of the normal — well, as normal as the co-captain of the lacrosse team is — high school senior that Liam Dunbar supposedly is. If only his heart weren't trying to make its way directly through Liam's chest. 

At least she's human, with normal human hearing.

Aaaand he's missed half of what she's just said.

"—know that you can come to me whenever you need."

"Oh. Yes. Sure."

He focuses on his hearing, desperately trying to find Mason's voice, Corey,'s, anyone's really, he'd even go for Nolan's. He can't pinpoint anyone, though.

"That's—that's a good attitude to have," he tries.

"I know people are still scared about what happened, though they don't talk about it," she continues and, oh crap, it's Monroe all over again. "And I'm sure that you — the students, I mean — are the same. All those people with guns..."

Liam shrugs. “It was just a couple, it got overblown way out of proportion. Nothing usually ever happens around here.”

She arches an eyebrow. “Well, I must be really unlucky, then,” she says, staring right into his eyes, “my house was broken into. I’m sure it had  _ nothing _ to do with those people, though.”

He can’t be having this conversation right now, he’s going to say something stupid and then Ms. Jones will call the Sheriff on him and he’s going to be tried as an adult and he’s going to end up in prison and where the hell is Mason?! His main duty as best friend is preventing Liam from saying stupid shit. 

“T—That’s terrible. I’m sorry to hear that,” he manages finally. And just when he thinks he’s in the clear, his stupid mouth adds, “I hope nothing much was stolen?”

“The burglars didn’t even touch my safe.”

“Oh, t-that’s good.”

“Except, one of them stole something personal. Something that was  _ very _ important to me. Something that I would very much like returned,” she goes completely still, and even her eyes betray no emotion. “How can these people bear to look at themselves in the mirror after what they’ve done?”

She knows. She definitely knows. Liam can’t even begin to understand how, but she knows. Maybe she has cameras? But if she does, why hasn’t the sheriff contacted him or his parents? 

“I—”

“Liam!”

He would never do anything to hurt Mason, but right now Liam could just kiss Corey and damn his boyfriend. He glances back and sees him hurrying towards them with a confused frown. He must have heard Liam’s heart beating like crazy and he’s sure that even with his not as strong sense of smell Corey can make out the panic in his scent.

“Corey!” he can’t quite manage to keep the relief from spilling into his voice. He turns to Ms. Jones with the most apologetic face he can muster up, not that it’s so hard feeling guilty right now. “I’m sorry, but I need to talk with Corey about lacrosse and...stuff.”

“Of course,” Ms. Jones’ borderline glare suddenly melts back into a benevolent smile and she nods. “Remember what I said. And stay out of trouble.”

“Sure!” he shouts back, but he’s already running towards Corey. 

He grabs his arm — maybe a little too forcefully, judging by the startled yelp — and starts dragging him to the boy’s bathroom. “Just so you know, I would totally be kissing you right now if you weren’t my best friend’s boyfriend.”

“Um, thanks?”

“No,  _ thank you _ !” He makes sure that the only two heartbeats in the room are theirs before closing and locking the door. When he looks up, Corey is looking warily at him. “She  _ knows _ .”

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Pack lunch is a somber affair, now that everyone is up to date on the Ms. Jones situation. Mason’s taken the longest to come around, bombarding him with a lot of ‘are you absolutely, positively sure?’s, ‘you slipped up and said something stupid, didn’t you?’s and ‘you’re going to have to ditch town and live on the run, can I have your XBox?’s.

“Did you hear that someone destroyed one of the vending machines?” Nolan says, dumping his lunch tray on the table and his homeworks next to it, before plopping down on the chair. “This used to be a nice town.”

“Yes, before some people decided to go around shooting kids.” Corey mutters, under his breath.

The whole table freezes, Alec too, who wasn’t really around for the whole hunters thing. Nolan flushes red and disappears behind his notebook while Corey looks as if he’s both surprised and maybe slightly ashamed at his own comment.

“Soo,” Liam sighs, poking at what he’s been assured are mashed potatoes but is possibly last week’s chemistry experiment. “Burgers?”

Nolan perks up from behind his physics homework at that, but then right after he shoots a guilty glance at Mason and slumps back again. “No,” he says, heartbroken. “Mason said you shouldn’t put off the inevitable and that we shouldn’t humor you. Not even for burgers.”

“Good answer,” Mason nods at him and then points at Liam. “Tell your parents.”

“Alec?” Liam asks turning to him.

“Not really a fan of burgers,” Alec says, with a shrug. There’s a long moment of silence and even Mason, who is all for the anti-burgers faction right now, looks at him with disgust. “Though they’re handy if you gotta eat fast.”

Liam turns to Corey, then. Corey, his last hope, his saviour, his new best- Corey, who’s being hidden from view by Mason leaning sideways so that he’s now in between him and Liam. 

“Liam,” Mason says, calm and reasonable. “Tell your parents.”

He slumps back into his seat and mumbles a “ _ fine _ .”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

**To: Theo** _   
_ _ burgers?  _ __   
13:53

_ I’m buying _ _   
_ 13:55

 

_ I’ve been told to ignore your pathetic attempts at procrastinating _ _   
_ 15:35

_ I’m done with work at 6, I’ll pick you up _ _   
_ 15:35

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

It’s raining and it’s almost a quarter to 7. In fact, Liam has been standing on the sidewalk in front of his house for exactly 33 minutes. He has an umbrella, but it’s a little windy and it’s raining sideways. 

Finally, he catches sight of Theo’s truck, coming around the bend. He watches as it slows down to a stop, right in front of a deep puddle. Liam stares dejectedly at it. He’s wearing his favorite sneakers, but it looks like they’re going to go for an unplanned swim if he’s to get to the truck.

He sighs and steadies himself for the inevitable, when the door opens with a click. He looks up to see Theo stretched across the seat, holding the door open for him.

“When you texted me, I thought you had to be really desperate not to talk to your parents, but I hadn’t realized just how much.”

Liam snaps the umbrella closed and, taking a running start, he vaults over the puddle and tumbles into the passenger seat. 

Theo’s just about moved in time to avoid getting a broken nose. “What the hell?” he grunts from where he’s shoved himself back against the wheel. “What’s with you?”

“You said you were done at 6!”

“The last time I came over right after work I offended your sensitive nose!”

Theo does look and smell like he’s just had a shower. He doesn’t have his usual crumpled look that comes from living in your own car and that Liam’s come to expect from him. Maybe, with the job, he’s also found a place to stay, but no. The truck still smells of Theo living in it, there’s a bag shoved and almost completely hidden in the back, under the driver’s seat, and Theo’s own scent — he now notices — has traces of the animal clinic.

They should probably talk about it, now that they’re basically friends. They’ve bled and fought together and now they’re getting burgers, that means they’re friends under buddy film rules. Liam can’t provide practical solutions to his predicament, though, as his family doesn’t really have a spare room, and he doubts Theo will accept any kind of emotional support. Theo is probably deathly allergic to both asking for help and emotions that go beyond basic fight or flight response.

He  _ is _ here with Liam, though, the only one of his so called ‘friends’ to come when he called for help.

“Thanks,” he says, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. 

“Oh, I’m only in it because you said you were buying.”

On second thought, what an absolute dick. 

Theo sighs. “You didn’t have to wait in the rain.”

Right. Of course. Liam shoots a glance at the house and then he looks back at Theo. “My parents are having sex,” he admits, finally.

Theo gapes at him and then, the shock on his face slowly and inexorably changes to horror as his eyes move past Liam, to rest on the house. He lets out a strangled noise.

“Oh my god!” Liam slaps his shoulder. “Don’t eavesdrop!”

“I’m sorry!” Theo ducks under another slap, fumbling for the wheel.

“Go! Oh my god! Go go go!”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Liam directs them to his favorite diner, but with the greasy smell and the noise of people, neither of them notice Corey and Mason until it’s too late to beat a hasty retreat.

There’s also the fact that Liam’s cry of outrage is quite loud. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Us? What are  _ you _ doing here?!”

Corey’s mouth is pressed in a sheepish sideways grimace. “With all this talk of burgers we felt like having some.”

“And you!” Mason points at Theo. “I thought I told you not to humor him!”

Theo doesn’t seem too preoccupied with Mason’s wrath as he slides along the bench, stealing Mason’s place and menu both.

“He’s buying,” he says, as if that were enough of an excuse. “And his parents were having sex.” He dodges Liam’s slap easily without even taking his eyes off the menu.

When Liam looks up, Mason has the face of a man who bit into a chocolate chip cookie and instead found raisins. “You don’t even know the half of it,” he tells him.

He slumps next to Theo and pokes him in the ribs until he slides the menu between them, so that they can both read it. “It’s been a problem. Ever since, you know,” he mimes claws and a roar. “I usually just run around the block a few times. But it’s raining.”

Corey tugs Mason’s shirt until he gives in and they’re all seated. “You’re getting steadily better times when running,” he tells Liam. It figures. While Corey can easily be overlooked even when he’s visible, there’s not much that escapes him. “I thought it was the,” he mimes the claws, “thing.”

Theo snorts. “It kind of is.”

“Hashtag werewolf problems,” Mason grins.

Theo slides the menu Liam’s way and then leans back. “I’m done,” he says, with the air of someone about to order the most expensive thing on the menu.

Asshole.

 


	8. Improvised surgery and other fun family activities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam’s parents get a crash course in werewolfology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some violence and gore and unsafe (and wildly inaccurate?) medical procedures.

For the first time in what feels like — and who is he kidding, it probably is —  _ months _ Theo feels completely full. He’s ordered a burger, fries and an outrageous amount of onion rings, mostly just to see whether Liam would actually pay for everything. Liam glared the whole time the waiter was taking Theo’s order but remained silent and the result was that Theo was forced to eat everything after all.

The rain’s turned to drizzle and by the time Liam and his friends pay and Theo’s driven the truck around even that’s on its way to be over.

Saying goodbye to Mason and Corey in the parking lot is a somewhat awkward scene, made of stilted words and stiff gestures, but the ride back to Liam’s place is spent in companionable silence. He feels Liam’s eyes on him a couple of times and the one time he looks back, Liam blinks and then smiles at him before looking away. It’s a proper one too, not a grin, just a soft smile, like something private between them.

Theo’s throat is suddenly dry and, when he tries to reciprocate Liam’s goodbye as he jumps off the truck, he finds his tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth. He clears his throat and tries again.

“Hey,” he croaks. Liam stops in the motion of closing the door and looks up at him, expectantly. “Tell your parents. Wasn’t it better after Mason knew?”

“Yeah, but in that case I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Well, don’t expect me to push you, this time.”

“I know you don’t— Wait a minute…” Liam’s eyes are narrowed to two suspicious slits. “That wolf…”

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“That was  _ you _ ?!” Liam huffs a laugh. “A black wolf.  _ Really _ .”

He frowns, feeling strangely defensive. He’s never really thought about the aesthetics of it, more taken by the fact the he can turn into a freaking animal. The first time he did, he surprised even the Dread Doctors. Looking back on it, it’s probably one of the reasons he’s survived this long in their clutches, tricking the Doctors into thinking he was their success and not another pathetic failure.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“I thought you’d be one of those coywolves,” Liam says with a shrugs. “You know what I’m talking about, they look like wolves, but are kinda smaller.”

“You know I’m not an actual hybrid, right?”

Liam grins at him. “Yeah, you had to go for the big bad black wolf, an omen of death,” he wiggles his fingers and makes vague ghostly sounds. “You’re so freaking extra, man.”

“Get out of my truck and go tell your parents you can finally grow hair on your chest.”

“I have hair on my chest!” Liam protests and apparently feels the need to demonstrate it, because he grabs the bottom of his t-shirt and jacket and pulls up, treating Theo to a full view of his muscled and, yes, slightly hairy chest. “Look!” his voice his muffled from all the clothes shoved against his face.

Or maybe that’s just the rush of blood roaring in Theo’s ears, overwhelming any other sound. “You’re a dork,” he mutters, slumping over the wheel in a desperate attempt to hide his blush. It shouldn’t even matter, Liam’s a guy, a guy who often finds himself in various states of undress with other guys, it’s not a problem. Liam’s also being an idiot, right now. It shouldn’t matter, but he can feel the tips of his ears burning nonetheless. “Just go. I need sleep.”

Liam tugs down his clothes and makes a valid attempt at tucking them back into his pants. “Thanks for the burgers.”

“You paid.”

“Yes, but you defied Mason’s edict for me.”

He shrugs. “I don’t know that I did, I only read free burgers and was instantly on board.”

Liam gives him a brilliant smile. “Okay,” he says, then. “If you say so.” He’s about to slam the door when Theo calls out his name. He freezes.

“Just—If you need someone there when you talk to your parents, I’m—”

“I mean, that would be—”

“—sure Scott won’t have—What?” He stumbles to a stop when Liam’s smile abruptly falls and is replaced by somber disappointment.

“I just—I thought—” he shakes his head. “Never mind. Scott. Right. Sure. I’ll give him a call.”

“...okay?”

“See you later, bye.”

“B—” he’s cut off by the door slamming shut.

He watches Liam run to the door and the disappear inside, then he turns on the engine and drives away. He spares a look at the dashboard clock, barely 10pm. There’s plenty of time to have a decent chance at getting some shut eye, even if his sister comes visiting.

He drives slowly, under the limit, through the residential area and it’s only by chance that there’s no one around when he slams on the brakes and comes to a screeching stop in the middle of the street.

A crack, like thunder, but not exactly. Another, like a door slamming shut, shocking in the silence. They come from the direction of Liam’s house. It could be a coincidence.

And then Liam's roar, a rallying call. It's loud in the silence of the residential area, but Theo suspects he'd be able to hear it even if he were miles away.

The tires squeal as he makes a U-turn and he’s already halfway back, now way above the speed limit, when he realizes he's just heard the sound of gunshots.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

He brakes hard at the last possible moment, leaving deep grooves in the nice and well-groomed lawn and toppling over the trash bin. He hears yelling, Liam's mother's screams and the pop-pop of a silenced gun. 

Theo smells blood.

He kicks open the door and in his haste gets tangled in the seat belt, almost falling face flat on the ground. He scrambles up and runs into the house, past the door, broken down and barely hanging off its hinges, through the dark entrance and up the stairs where the sounds of desperate scuffling are coming from.

Liam is standing in front of his parents, shielding them, with his claws out, eyes golden and fangs sharp, the roar he lets out shakes Theo to his very core. 

Facing off against three hunters, a fourth seemingly unconscious on the ground, Liam stands his ground, like he did back at the hospital. Face to face with almost certain death, he's the fiercest sight Theo's ever seen.

Theo's answering roar causes the hunters to freeze for a moment, but it's all he needs. He tackles the closest to him with all his strength, driving them both into the wall. The hunter's head cracks against a framed picture and he loses his footing and, most importantly, his consciousness and Theo spins around to face the remaining two.

Liam is taking care of the one with the gun, one hand at his throat, pushing him back, while the other is keeping the gun pointed away from himself. The other hunter, a woman, gives up on reaching him in the cramped space of the corridor and turns to Theo, brandishing a combat knife so long that it might as well be a sword. The blade glints in the low light as she adjusts her grip, when he sees the edge is red with blood, his nostrils flare. That's definitely the smell of Liam's blood. A low growl rumbles at the back of his throat, but she doesn't seem to be too intimidated and instead steps into a defensive stance. She looks like she knows what she's doing, it's unlikely that he's going to come out of it unscathed and with wearable clothes.

It's really unfortunate, it's not like he has a bottomless wardrobe these days.

Still, between the two of them, while Liam is the strongest, Theo has better combat training. In fact, he has combat training, period. Liam is just fast and really, really strong. It makes sense for Theo to be taking care of the competent one. He bares his fangs at the woman and mirrors her defensive stance. She makes a sound, in between surprise and amusement.

Behind the woman, Liam's pushed the hunter against the wall and he's dangling him from his neck, bashing his head against the doorframe. Getting him and his parents out is the priority and as long as the ones with supernatural healing are those who get hurt, it should all be fine.

Theo shoots forward and, just as he predicted, the woman goes low and aims a stab at his lower abdomen. He twists at the last possible moment, so that the knife slices across his ribs and upper arm. The blade is really fucking sharp and cuts deep, making him hiss in pain, but he's got what he wanted and he closes his arm quickly, trapping the woman's forearm just below his armpit. With his left hand he delivers a couple of swift punches to her ribs and hears the crack and her cry of pain and then he goes in with an elbow to her face, while keeping her trapped against his side.

She's either tougher than she looks or fueled by fanaticism, or maybe it's a combination of both, because she doesn't go down, despite the fact that those hits would've dropped a man twice her size. She just leans back and, fast as lightning, pulls out another knife from god knows where and sinks it in the meat of Theo's thigh and it's only thanks to his supernatural quick reflex that he moves just enough to avoid being hit in the femoral artery.

Well, fuck this bitch.

He whips his head around and bites down between her shoulder and neck. She pulls back with a choked scream, ripping her jacket and flesh in the process. She stumbles back, her hands flying up to stem the blood flow. She's screaming panicked words even though the wound isn't that bad really; Theo is still bleeding from the twin slashes in his arm and ribs, not to mention the freaking knife in his leg, and it's not like he's screaming as if he were being disemboweled.

"You  _ animal _ !"

Theo rolls his eyes and tugs the knife out of his leg. He chucks it down the stairs and then limps towards her. She curses at him and draws yet  _ another knife _ , what the hell.

"I'm getting really tired of this," he tells her, honestly.

"I'm going to cut you to ribbons, you filthy pie-" she gets cut off by Liam drop kicking her into the wall.

"I could've taken her, you know," he tells Liam.

"No time!" Liam says, urgently, pushing his parents into Theo and then turning back to the first hunter who, as it turns out, wasn't unconscious and is now standing up and reaching for a very big gun.

The woman groans and starts crawling towards her discarded knife. Theo makes a move for her, but Liam's grip on his arm stops him. "Get them to safety!" his eyes are their normal blue, but they're wide and scared. His heart is beating like crazy.

"I'm not leaving you here!" he growls, catching himself off guard with the vehemence of his fear. "Liam—"

"Theo!" Liam cuts him off, sharply, pushing him after his parents. He stares into his eyes, pointedly "I'm trusting you with them."

From behind Theo, Liam's mother reaches out and desperately tries to grab at his shirt, but Liam swiftly pulls back and turns to face the two remaining hunters. They may be banged up and confused, but they're still armed and Liam can't possibly think to defeat them on his own-

"I'll meet you at the truck," Liam growls. "Go!"

Liam is trusting him with his parents and there's nothing that Theo can do, really, other than push this unknown terror down as far as it'll go before it chokes him. He turns and he pushes Dr. and Mrs. Geyer away, going as far as lifting her up bodily off the ground and running down the stairs.

He covers them as they jump into the backseats of the truck, but he keeps his hearing tuned to the fighting inside the house. He hears a body hitting the floor hard, a feminine cry and hopefully that's the last he'll hear of her. He opens the passenger door so Liam can jump in quickly and runs around to the driver's side. There's the sound of a gunshot and he trips over his own feet, stumbling against the hood and leaving a smear of blood along the side of it.

He gasps in relief when he hears Liam growling in rage and not in pain as the noises of fighting continue. Theo picks himself up and makes it around the truck, climbing into the driver's seat and turning the keys in the ignition all in the same movement. In the rearview mirror, Liam's parents are huddled together, wide-eyed in fear. Mrs. Geyer is crying as she clings to her husband.

"He's gonna be fine," Theo says, to himself, to them. "He's tougher than he—"

The sound of glass breaking above them and then the body clad in black clothes falls down on the hood, bounces off it, before sliding to the ground.

Theo fumbles for the reverse with a curse, behind him both Dr. and Mrs. Geyer cry out in shock.

They scream again, louder, when a second later Liam himself lands on the hood, superhero style and everything. He turns to look at them with a wild grin, then jumps to the ground, leaving behind two conspicuous dents in the middle of the hood.

Liam tumbles into the passenger seat, slamming the door closed behind him. He smells of adrenaline, sweat and blood, but he looks fine and though there's a tear at shoulder height in his t-shirt that looks suspiciously like a bullet hole, the skin looks unblemished beneath it and it doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore.

He's fine and Theo is going to kill him. 

"‘I’ll meet you at the truck’?! Really, Liam, really?!" he slams the palm of hand against the wheel. "Have you ever heard of stairs?!”

“There was no time for stairs!”

"There’s always the time for stairs when the alternative is destroying my car!”

“It’s only a little scratched,” Liam says with an eye roll, but follows Theo's finger as he silently points to the state of the hood. "Oh," he says. Then he looks at him and shrugs. "It looked really cool?" he says, innocently.

“You’re paying for the damage!”

Hands slap against his seat, jostling him, and Liam's parents start yelling in unison. “Gun gun gun!”

Theo looks up and, sure enough, the hunter Liam's just tossed  _ out of a freaking window _ is stumbling to his feet and is struggling to to bring up his rifle. Are all these hunters fucking Terminators?!

Liam smacks his injured arm. "Go! Go! Go!  _ Drive _ !" he yells as if Theo weren't already throwing the truck in reverse, running over the trash bin a second time.

In front of them, the hunter has finally managed to point the barrel in their general direction.

"Keep your heads down!" Theo yells, right as Liam dives in between the seats, grabbing for his parents, pushing them down and shielding them.

Even though the rifle has a silencer, the shots are loud to Theo's supernatural ears. Louder still is the sound of Liam's parents' screaming, the windshield shattering, the wheels screeching as he floors it.

Theo feels the hit right under his collarbone but the gasp gets stuck in his throat as all breath is punched out of him.

He smacks his head into the window and swerves wildly, clipping the hunter and almost driving straight into a Lexus parked on the side of the road. He manages to correct their course and gets them back on the road. There's no one in the streets and all the lights are off in the houses, typical Beacon Hills. Freaking shoot outs in a residential area and not even the sound of sirens in the distance.

He coughs and feels it bubble, warm, on his lips. Shit. "Anyone following us?" he croaks.

"Are you guys okay?" he hears Liam ask his parents. "Please, don't freak out." He shifts against Theo, jostling his arm and making him gasp. His whole front is damp and warm now. This isn't good at all. "Please, please, don't freak out!"

He presses his left hand against the entry wound and almost passes out at the pain. "Liam!"

"Yes!" In the rear-view mirror, he sees Liam straighten up and check. "No one following!"

"Oh, good," Theo says and then slumps against the car door, driving them straight into a hedge.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

He doesn't know how long he's been out, but it must be nothing more than half a minute or so, because the truck is still stuck in the hedge, lights on and motor running, and he's still slumped into the door, but he hears Liam saying his name as if he were underwater.

Hands are tugging him up to a sitting position. He can't seem to be able to sit properly and he ends up plastered to Liam's chest, gasping against his neck and coughing blood all over his shirt.

"We need to go to the hospital," Dr. Geyer says, from far away.

"We can't." He feels Liam's words, more than hears them, as they vibrate in his throat.

“He’s been shot, Liam! He needs a hospital.”

Theo coughs, but this time there's no blood. He tries sitting back, but he's still too weak and only flails around a little until Liam grabs his wrist with one hand and uses the other arm to prop him up. "I'll be fine," he croaks. "I just need a moment." He looks up at Liam. "Exit wound?"

He's pressed against Liam again, this time getting a faceful of his armpit. He gasps in pain at the manhandling, but the sharp intake of breath brings Liam's scent with it and Theo is left shuddering at the sudden and shocking arousal that burns through him. He shakes then, hot and cold all over.

It must be the shock, settling in.

He feels Liam's hands pawing at his shoulders, one slipping under his t-shirt and running up his back to settle on a shoulder blade. He curls up against Liam's chest with a groan. This isn't happening. His parents are  _ right there _ . Maybe bleeding out right here, right now is a good way to go.

"Stop squirming," Liam grumbles and then pushes him back. Theo loses what little balance he has and slides down against the seat and almost down into the footwell. Liam gets a panicked look on his face and makes a mad grab for him, tugging him back up by the collar of his t-shirt. "No exit wound."

"Shit," he grabs Liam's wrist for balance before turning to look at Liam's parents. They're both wide-eyed and pale. Liam's mother is staring at Theo's once white t-shirt. By now Theo must look like an extra in a Tarantino movie. He blinks at Dr. Geyer. "You’re a doctor, right? You have to take it out.”

Dr. Geyer blinks at him. "Take it ou—With  _ what _ ? I don't exactly go around carrying scalpels in my pockets," he actually sounds affronted for a second. "I don't know what exactly are you, to heal so fast, but if you still have a bullet in you you need to go to the hospital."

" _ Daaad _ ," Liam groans. "We can't go to the hospital!"

Theo looks up at him. "Deaton's?"

"Deaton's," Liam nods, pats himself down and then gives him a sheepish look. "I left my keys at home."

Theo reaches blindly for his keys, turning off the engine, and then dangles them in front of Liam's face. "Got my own."

"Great!" Liam says and quickly snatches them out of his hand. He bats away Theo's protests and kicks open the passenger door. Theo is seriously going to kill him if he doesn't stop abusing his truck.

"Stop destroying my truck!" he starts, but it gets strangled as he's manhandled around in his seat. Liam then grabs him under his armpits and pulls him across the seats, bumping him into the wheel, the console, both seats, the roof  _ and _ the dashboard. "Watch it! I'm already bleeding to death, I don't need a concussion!"

“Don’t be a baby, it’s just a bullet wound," Liam huffs, then drops him onto the passenger seat. "You’re just worried your stupid hard head will do more damage to your stupid car.” He steps back and slams the door, actually almost hitting him in the head.

Theo has barely managed to sit himself up, when Liam appears on the driver's side, shoving his legs off the seat with doubtful bedside manners. "Watch it, Dunbar."

Liam rolls his eyes at him and then freezes, staring in the rearview mirror. He turns his head slowly and Theo turns with him, already picturing an army of indestructible hunters running towards them. Instead, it's only Liam's parents, staring at the two of them, terrified and yet still managing to look somewhat concerned, as good parents should be.

"Oh. Hey," Liam mumbles. "Er, don't worry, okay? It's a regular Friday—"

"It's Thursday."

"—a regular Thursday night for us. Nothing to be worried about."

Liam is fucking hopeless if he thinks that's going to reassure his parents. Hunters on a Thursday, mythical hell beasts on Fridays and Nazi werelions for a Saturday special. Nothing to be concerned about, this is Beacon Hills, baby. 

Hm. He may have lost more blood than previously thought.

A sharp pain in his thigh shakes him out of his thoughts. Liam punches him again and he realizes he's been calling his name.

"Right, Theo? Theo?"

He gives Liam's parents two thumbs up. "Sure. Everything’s A-Okay.”

“A-Oka—?! Are you okay? Theo!  _ Theo _ !”

Theo closes his eyes and the frantic voices get far away.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Theo comes to at the shock of cold metal against his bare arms. He gasps and shoots up, headbutting Liam in the jaw and instantly sending him back lying with an aching cheekbone. There's a strangled yelp and the sound of metal tools spilling to the floor as Liam flails back and falls on his butt.

"Ow," they say in unison.

This time, Theo sits up more slowly, taking in the room. Liam is still on the ground, massaging his jaw, his mother is sitting on a stool near the door. Her shoulders are covered by Liam's blood-spattered hoodie and while her fingers around the plastic cup are trembling slightly, she looks much better than she had in the car. 

Meanwhile, Liam's stepfather is picking up the scalpels from the ground and giving them a dubious glance before laying them back in the metal tray.

"It'll be fine, we don't really get sick," he tells him.

From the back of the room, Liam's mother perks up. "You don't?" She sounds surprised, considering she's just seen him heal two stab wounds and a gunshot to the chest. She turns to Liam. "You had chicken pox when you were 6. And there was that horrible pneumonia you had when you were 12!"

Liam shrugs. "I've only been a werewolf less than two years," he freezes and then looks between his parents with comically wide eyes. "Er. So. I'm a werewolf. Wow, that felt anticlimactic."

There's a long moment of silence as they digest the news, when suddenly Liam's mother gasps audibly and looks at him, eyes narrowed. "What about the times you were sick in the past two years?" She asks, accusingly. "Were you just pretending so you wouldn't go to school?"

Theo really can't help the bark of surprised laughter that escapes him and lets it dissolve into sniggering. Liam's stepfather gives him a look and a 'what can you do' shrug, but his mouth is twitching.

" _ Moooom _ !" 

"Liam."

"It was Pack things, okay?" He huffs. "Mostly. Once there was this Biology thing- it doesn't matter."

"Pack as in a pack of werewolves?" Dr. Geyer says. He looks up at Theo.

"I'm not part of it," he shrugs. "But there are others."

Liam shoots him a look at the denial, he looks almost shocked; Theo doesn't know what to do with that information. He shifts under his gaze and feels the pinch in his chest. 

He clear his throat and looks at Dr. Geyer. He nods at the surgical tools. "You got everything you need?"

He gets a negative shake of the head in reply. "The wound closed up already, we'll need X-Rays to find the bullet."

This is taking far more time than Theo's comfortable with. He looks down at his t-shirt and straightens it, making sure the cotton is perfectly stretched out. "There," he points at the small hole in the dried blood. "Just open me up and rummage around until you find it.”

Across from him, Liam goes pale.

Dr. Geyer opens his mouth. Closes it. Gapes at him again. "'Rummage around'?!" he settles on, finally.

Liam steps up, putting a placating hand on his father's arm. "Dad, please. We know what we’re doing.”

Theo shrugs. “Mostly."

“Stop helping."

“I’ll be fine, Dr. Geyer," Theo nods. "I survived a broken neck and literally being buried alive.”

And now both of Liam's parents are staring at them in horror.

“You’re  _ children, _ ” comes Liam's horrified gasp.

"We're at war."

Liam elbows him in the side, a little too hard for comfort. "Stop. Helping," he hisses, before turning to his father. "Please. I can help, he won't feel any pain."

Dr. Geyer closes his eyes with a deep sigh, but in the end he nods. Theo releases a breath he didn't realize he's been holding and lies back on the metal gurney, arms at his sides, fingers carefully splayed. Liam's face pops into his line of vision, looking slightly nervous, but determined too.

"I'll take your pain," he says, grabbing a hold of his wrist, his fingertips right as Theo's pulse point. Only now he realizes how fast his heart is beating. While it's true that he can survive the procedure, he certainly doesn't enjoy pain.

He nods at Liam. "Just...don't overexert yourself."

"For you?  _ Hardly _ ," Liam scoffs, but his fingers squeeze lightly in reassurance.

Dr. Geyer comes back wearing gloves and holding a marker and carefully traces a dot where the hole is in Theo's t-shirt. He then grabs a pair of medical scissors and considers Theo's mess of a t-shirt. What the hell, it's not like it's salvageable.

Theo nods. "Cut it."

Dr. Geyer's gives him a sharp nod and then makes a long, straight cut in the middle. He puts the scissors down and parts the sides of the t-shirt. He stares at the black dot he's marked on Theo's chest for a long moment, but at Liam's quiet 'dad', he shakes himself and grabs a scalpel. He looks up at Theo one more time, "this is going to hurt."

Theo glances at Liam, finding him already staring back. "No, it's not," he says, before nodding. "Get on with it."

Dr. Geyer nods and makes the incision. Theo doesn't even feel it, though, Liam's hand on his wrist tightens and he feels suddenly feels light. Warmth drips down his chest and he has the vague notion of Dr. Geyer's probing around with forceps, but he feels like he's suspended in water.

Above him, Liam frowns and exchanges a few words with his stepfather, but his words are muffled beyond recognition. Dr. Geyer's pressed his lips in a thin line and shakes his head, frowning. Blood is seeping down Theo's side, spreading under him and making his skin stick to the cotton of his destroyed t-shirt uncomfortably.

"...Liam?" he tries.

Liam shoots him a quick, reassuring smile before turning back to his stepfather. "Do it."

Do what? Maybe Liam taking his pain is making him heal too fast? Without Deaton here to carefully administer the dose, he's not sure he wants to try the wolfsbane again. He's still looking up at Liam and he sees the exact moment he goes as pale as a sheet. He's about to tell him to stop taking his pain, that it's too much now, but then he realizes that Liam's looking down at Theo's chest.

He struggles to raise his head without jostling Dr. Geyer's work too much, to see what's going on, he isn't feeling anything at all beyond the circle of Liam's fingers around his wrist burning like a brand. He cranes his neck just in time to catch the sight Dr. Geyer's finger sinking into the wound in his chest.

Theo once saw a dog, beaten and battered, whimpering as it tried to get away from its tormentors; it was a sound of desperate hopelessness. He hears a sound just like that now and when Liam snaps his eyes up to look at him, he realizes he's just made it.

"Hey, no, no, no," Liam scrambles to push his head down, keeping it pressed to the gurney with his palm on Theo's forehead. "Don't look, okay? You're healing too fast for the retractor, he's got to keep it open."

It's too late, though, Theo can feel her fingers crawling up his chest. "Don't let her take it," he begs.

But it's wrong isn't it? He's awake, Tara isn't here, Dr. Geyer's helping him, but that's the smell of his blood, the cold of the metal against his back, but he's not in the morgue, there's light here and someone is saying his name, but it's Liam's voice and not  _ hers _ .

"You're safe here," Liam says and the thing is, Theo  _ believes _ him.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

He blinks awake to the sound of Dr. Geyer's snapping his gloves off.

He's not in any pain and when he goes to touch his chest gingerly, his hand comes off with sticky, half-congealed blood. 

"We got it out," Dr. Geyer tells him. "You can rest now."

He does feel light-headed. Behind his step-father, Liam is puking into the sink.

"Pussy," Theo snorts.


	9. The comeback kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam runs away from his problems to find other problems, as well as a familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the infrequent updates, I started a new job and it got a bit hectic. Hopefully I'll get back on track in the next couple of weeks.

Despite the fact that Liam's called him  _ after _ he texted both the Pack groups, Deaton is the first to show up. He takes in the state of his clinic with an unreadable expression, in silence. Liam leans against the mop and does the same, trying to see what Deaton is seeing, without knowing that Theo is now mostly clean and sleeping it off on the cot in the backroom. It does look like the scene of a gruesome murder, blood has spilled from the gurney to the floor and Liam hasn't been making great progress with the mop.

He can still smell the lingering stench of his vomit in the air — though hopefully Deaton can't smell that — and flashing back to his father  _ sticking a freaking finger in Theo's _ chest and Theo's own delirious panic. On top of that, he's dead tired from keeping Theo's pain on acceptable levels.

"I would've called you earlier," he says finally, "but it was an emergency."

Deaton's eyes land on the metal tray, with the bloody scalpels and forceps and the bullet still inside it. "I can see that," he nods. "Honestly, after all this time I'm more surprised that I'm still surprised. Melissa is here, I take it?"

Liam shakes his head. "My dad," he juts his chin in the direction of the toilets, where his parents have disappeared to, under the guise of freshening up. He's heard them arguing in hushed voices for the past fifteen minutes and he's been trying really hard not to eavesdrop. He's probably going to have to tell them about the super hearing too. At some point.

"Ah."

"Yeah, it's not been the best evening so far."

Deaton nods in understanding, then he takes off his jacket and places it carefully on top of the stool where his mom was sitting earlier. It's probably the only thing that's not stained with blood and/or puke. He rolls up his sleeves and then reaches under the sink for a hose.

He raises an eyebrow at Liam. "Shall we sanitize my clinic for my  _ actual  _ patients?"

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Melissa arrives next, directly from the hospital judging by the scrubs she's still wearing. She envelops both his parents in a hug and looks at Liam over their shoulders, a worried frown on her brow. He shakes his head no, that he's fine, despite the fact that he looks like someone died. She directs his parents to sit and they start talking in hushed tones. She's probably the best candidate to answer both their 'help my son is a werewolf' and 'help it's the middle of the night and my werewolf son is covered in blood' questions.

He doesn't really want to face his parents right now. While the cat's out of the bag, so to speak, it's now turned into the elephant in the room and really, Liam shouldn't be left alone with metaphors. His ears perk up when he hears his name mentioned from the direction of the Parents of Werewolves gaggle and before he can actually be included in the conversation, he beats a hasty retreat while proclaiming to no one in particular and to the room at large that he's going to check on Theo.

Theo is still sleeping, bundled up under the thick blanket and giving the occasional twitch. His hair is matted with blood and sweat from the fight earlier, as well as the dubious medical procedure, and he looks uncomfortable, his face pinched. Without even thinking about it, Liam reaches out for some exposed skin, the side of his neck, and watches as black tendrils climb from his hands to his forearms.

Theo mumbles something in his sleep and turns on his side, dislodging Liam's hand in the process. His breathing becomes deeper, but he's still frowning.

His phone pings and he checks to see that Mason promises to be on his way as soon as he can manage to sneak past his parents, which means that Corey will be arriving with him, because Mason's mom has nigh-supernatural sixth sense when it comes to teeneagers sneaking out and there's no way he can slip past her without invisibility.

Nolan's reply is from an hour ago, saying that his parents won't let him out past 10 p.m. on a school night, but that he'll keep an ear out just in case. As if his hunter ex-buddies were stupid enough to share information with him now.

The phone starts vibrating in his hands and Parrish's annoyed face appears under the caller ID. He leaves the room, making sure to close the door quietly.

"Tell me you have good news," he says as soon as he picks up.

"Define good."

" _ Great,"  _ he sighs and walks to the reception desk, around which everyone comes to gather when he signals them. "I'll put you on speaker."

He lays the phone face up and a moment later, Parrish picks up from where he left off, which admittedly wasn't much to begin with. "No trace of the hunters, but we do have a lot of blood at the scene. Hopefully some of it is theirs?"

Liam takes a moment to think about it, but he was angry and it happened so fast, it's hard to make out the details. "I think I hit a couple of them really hard and I'm pretty sure Theo bit the woman with all the knives." Parrish mutters something under his breath and across from Liam, Melissa gapes at him. "Look! She really had a lot of knives! And I kicked her into a wall and she kept getting up. It made sense at the time."

"Fine," Parrish says, with a tone of voice that hints to anything but it being fine. Liam doesn't even want to think about all the bullshitting that ends up in his police reports. At least they have the Sheriff in the know now. "At least tell me that the two of you haven't contaminated the crime scene too much."

"Weeeeell," Liam looks sheepishly at his parents. "I might have got shot. Once. Or maybe twice. And stabbed a little bit too. Theo definitely got stabbed a couple of times. Then he got shot later too, but he was in the truck already, so that's fine."

There's a long silence on the other end of the line. Liam can just picture Parrish staring determinedly at some point in front of him, trying to find the will to care. It's a face that Liam knows perfectly well, in fact almost every time they're face to face, Parrish seems to be able to barely tolerate him, he has the face of a man who is just done. Scott has assured him that it's not true, that that's just Parrish natural face, but Liam isn't so sure.

There's a rustling as the phone changes hands and then the Sheriff's voice comes on. "Hey, Liam."

"Hello, Sheriff Stilinski," he replies, politely, shooting worried glances at his parents. They don't seem too weirded out by it, but maybe it's just the fact that he's Stiles' dad, so it's not that strange that he'd be on name basis with Liam.

"Please tell me that you have something I can use."

"They were wearing gloves and masks," he says, apologetically. "And they looked like they knew what they were doing."

"I can't use any of that, Liam."

"...I'm pretty sure I could recognize their smell?"

The Sheriff lets out a heavy sigh. "I'm sending Parrish to take your parents' statements. In the meantime, I want you — and I mean  _ all _ of you — to lie low and stay somewhere safe."

Melissa nods at his dad. "You can stay with me. It's only Alec and me these days, we have plenty of space."

His father shakes his head. "Melissa, we can't—"

"Nonsense, it'll be perfectly fine."

Liam grabs the phone and leaves them to argue over niceties. He steps out and turns off the speaker. "Sheriff, still there?" he tries.

"Still here, Liam," he says, then he continues with the soft voice of Mr. Stilinski the father, rather than the dry tone of Sheriff Stilinski. "Are you alright, son?"

Liam shrugs, though he's now alone outside. He slumps against the wall. "I am, but Theo almost wasn't. And my parents..." He clenches his fist, nails digging into his palm. Takes a deep breath. "They came into my home, with guns! And they dragged my parents into all this— if Theo hadn't been there..."

"Liam, listen to me. Are you listening?" Liam mumbles an affirmative. "I used to be your parents. I know you want to keep them safe, I understand that, family means protecting your own, but let me tell you, as parents? They've been doing this crap longer than you have. Your parents seem like decent people and they know what they're doing, okay? Just give them some time to adjust."

"They had guns! I can defend myself and I can defend them, I—"

"I have a gun and I have training and though Stiles only had a baseball bat and a fast mouth, he thought he knew better than me. And you know what? Sometimes he did, but I'm still his father, and I'll always want to know when he's in danger, and I'll always want to protect him. Work with them, Liam. They don't have claws or guns, but they can protect you in other ways and we need—"

"To protect our own," Liam finishes for him.

"Exactly."

Liam takes a deep breath. Everyone is fine. His parents are inside, just shaken and not hurt, Mason and Corey are on their way, Theo is resting, safe and sound. The only casualty was Theo's truck, the windshield riddled with bullet holes and webbed with cracks, the hood dented and smeared with—

Hmm.

He frowns and gets closer. The side mirror on the passenger side is closed and the paint is scratched, but that can't have happened when Theo drove them into the hedge, as he was swerving left at the time. He runs his fingers along the scratches and they come away smelling vaguely of blood, but it's not Liam's nor Theo's.

He checks that the call is still ongoing. "Sheriff! Still there?"

"This is Parrish."

"Yes, that's fine! I think Theo got one with the truck!"

"One what?"

"One of the hunters. He started shooting at us and Theo must have clipped him when we were driving away." He puts the mirror back into place and gives it an affectionate pat. Then he looks sheepishly around, but thankfully he's still alone. "It happened right in front of the house and by then it wasn't raining anymore, you might find something there."

"I'll get someone on it," Parish says, business-like. "I'm on my way to talk to you and your parents."

"We'll be here."

The line goes dead and Liam's left to stare at his own reflection. He looks tired and there's a smear of dried blood high on his cheekbone, though by now it's impossible to tell whose it is. He scratches it and it comes away in flakes. Now there's only a very tired, seemingly normal, teenager staring back at him from the mirror.

Looking in the mirror.

He takes off running back in the direction of the city.

Parrish is going to kill him.

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

 

 

He's halfway through town when the phone starts vibrating in his pocket. He skids to a halt and almost bounces off a lampost.

When he fishes it out, he sees Mason's face staring up at him. His thumb hesitates over the accept call icon, before he switches the phone to Do Not Disturb and shoves it back into his pocket.

He'd rather pull stupid crap and have the illusion that he didn't know any better.

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

By the time he's halfway to Ms. Jones' house he's breathing heavily, but it's from the effort of keeping himself calm rather than actual exertion from the run. He's been growling his mantra under his breath for the last mile or so, but as usual it doesn't help. Theo's back at the animal clinic and can't help as his personal punching bag, a couple of lampposts and a street sign have suffered in his stead, cartoonishly bent out of shape after Liam's passage.

He stumbles the last few steps to Ms. Jones's door and catches himself by slapping his palm against it, claws out he leaves tiny scratches on the wood. This isn't good. This is so not good. Liam's an idiot, he should have waited for Parrish and his perpetual put upon face, he should've answered Mason's call.

He should call Scott.

But then he thinks of his mother's scream when the first smoke bomb crashed through the living room window, the smell of her terror when the first shot was fired, the way his father screamed his name and tried to cover Liam's body with his own, human, fragile one. Theo, bleeding out and pale and terrified of something only he could see.

His claws leave deep grooves in the wood as he draws back his hand and makes a fist.

He punches through on the first try, the pain of the bones of his hand shattering under the force is burned away completely by his anger. He steps back and finishes the job by kicking both lock and door knob clean off.

The roar dies in his throat when he finds himself face to face with Ms. Jones, standing about ten feet from him, crossbow at the ready. He smells wolfsbane, but she's pointing it down at the floor. There's no mountain ash protecting the entrance, either. She's not a very good hunter.

"There goes the deposit on the house," she says, calmly, as if she weren't facing a wolfed out superstrong creature with anger issues. Then, she seems to take in the state of his torn and bloody clothes and her frown goes from annoyed to concerned. "What happened?"

The genuine worry in her voice and the way her scent backs it up catches him so off guard that the blinks away his wolf. "What?"

She carefully lays the crossbow on the dresser next to her and takes a tentative step towards him, left hand extended in calming gesture, like one would with a scared dog. "Liam?" Her voice is level. "Are you okay? Where does the blood come from?"

"Oh," he looks down at himself and then blinks back up at her. "Some hunters broke into my house and tried to kill me."

"Your parents?"

"They're fin—" he shakes his head and takes a step back. "I'm confused. Aren't you one of them?"

"What?!  _ No _ !"

"Then why would you—" he freezes when his brain catches up with the scent that he's smelling. His eyes shoot to the doorway right behind Ms. Jones, on her left.

Ms. Jones follows his eyes and straightens up with a sigh, signaling for her to come out.

A moment later, a girl his age steps out of what he assumes is the kitchen.

"Hey, Liam." She's cut her hair and dyed it brown so she looks different enough to fool anyone crossing her path on the street, but he knows her well — he still has nightmares about her — and there's no fooling his nose.

"Lori?"

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

"Lori?"

"Are you broken?"

She died. She's dead. There's no way she— "Brett?" he asks, but the way her face falls is enough of an answer before she even shakes her head.

She sobs into his shoulder as soon as his arms go around her. Were she human, he'd be afraid of squeezing too much, but her arms around his waist are tight to the point of hurting, too, and her new, unfamiliar hair tickle his nose, but he doesn't care, because it's her hair tickling his nose and her scent enveloping him, and it's Lori, safe and alive. It's  _ Lori _ .

"I'll put on some tea," Ms. Jones says and leaves them to it.

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

 

Liam gives up on the third failed try at wedging the door knob back into the splintered casing. Wordlessly, Lori hands him the duct tape — also for the third time — and he finally accepts it, cheeks burning in shame. Ms. Jones chuckles as she sips her hot tea, leaning against the kitchen door jamb and observing the proceeding.

Once he's more or less patched the hole up, he pushes the door closed. Then he pushes again and then once more, gentler, when it fails to stay closed. It slips ajar again and Liam just bites off another piece of duct tape and tapes it closed. He turns around around to find Ms. Jones and Lori both giving him unimpressed looks. "I'll pay for it," he assures them, hastily.

Between this and Theo's truck, he's racking up quite the bill. Maybe he should use his account balance as his mantra, that'd certainly help prevent all the wanton destruction of property.

Ms. Jones salutes him with her mug. "There's more in the kitchen," she says. "A nice, calming herbal tea. Why don't we adjourn this to a more comfortable location so you can tell us the reason for this impromptu slumber party?"

Now that he notices it, both she and Lori are wearing what look like pajamas. He goes to check the time on his phone and finds he has a total of 23 missed calls and 15 messages from various people and sources. He puts the phone back and then he has to take it out again a second later to check the time.

It's just past midnight. It's a testament to how weird his life is that it's not the latest he's found himself in a strange place while covered in blood. The tea is a first, though. He peers at his mug cautiously. Recent developments suggest that Ms. Jones isn't in fact a hunter, but she does have access to a crossbow and wolfsbane.

But then again, so does Argent.

Lori scoffs and grabs the mug from him. While staring at him dead on, she takes a sip then gives it back before taking a sip from her own.

He follows her to the living too, meekly.

Ms. Jones is sitting curled on the armchair and as soon as he comes in, she gestures for him to take a seat on the sofa. Lori sits next to him and even though the initial shock is over, it's so weird seeing her familiar gestures, when Liam's only barely just come around to the fact that she's dead.

Then again, maybe he hasn't come around yet, the way his Buddhist mantra isn't working at all.

"Just..  _ how _ ?"

Lori stares into her mug and shrugs. "I don't remember much to be honest," she says, quietly. "I remember the tunnels and—and Brett...I remember taking his pain. Then I woke up in a car," she looks up at Ms. Jones. "We were leaving Beacon Hills."

He turns to her as well. “You saved her?” he asks, but she shakes her head.

“It was one of Hannah’s packmates,” Lori explains. It takes Liam a moment to associate the name to Ms. Jones.

“Mrs. Finch said you are a pacifist,” Liam says, frowning. “But you weren’t part of Satomi’s pack or she would know you.”

“My Pack is— _ was _ associated with Satomi’s,” Ms. Jones explains. “My—My Alpha believed that peaceful cohabitation could be possible, too.”

“Believed?”

“Much like Satomi, he was killed by hunters,” Ms. Jones’ fingers tap a nervous rhythm on the porcelain of the mug. She looks to the side, blinking away tears. After a few seconds, she’s recomposed enough to continue. “Funny isn’t it, how you are the bloodthirsty monsters and we seem to be the ones doing all the killing,” she snorts. “I told him—I...It doesn’t matter now. When Nick died we were left guideless, so we tried contacting Satomi for help and to warn her. When we received no reply, we thought they’d gone underground, so Ben came in person and found Lori.”

“All this time,” Liam looks at Lori in wonder. “You were alive.”

“In Nevada, yes,” she nods. “I know I should’ve said something, but with Brett d-dead…”

He draws her into another hug. “I understand,” he whispers, stroking her hair. “I’m just glad you’re fine,” he frowns. “I don’t know how to feel about the hair, though.”

She pushes away with a snort. “What? Don’t I look super badass now?” she mock-scowls, miming throwing a punch with the hand not holding the mug and almost spilling her tea. “Oh, crap.”

“So,” Liam looks from her to Ms. Jones and then back. “Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing back here? It’s safer in Nevada.”

“I’m the only human in the Pack,” Ms. Jones says. “They can’t hurt me with their wolfsbane and mountain ash.”

“They can still shoot you,” Liam points out. “They didn’t seem to have any problems shooting at my parents.”

Ms. Jones carefully puts her mug on the couch table and then leans back. “They won’t shoot me,” she says. “Not if I shoot them first.”

Lori’s hand closed around his forearm. “Liam,” she says. “We came back to fight.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lori’s alive! **SHOCK**. I really didn’t like how they summarily made off with her. Brett dying made sense from a narrative perspective, but both of them?! Killed by a puny car?! Also, I wanted to add a girl in the B-Listers because it was turning to be too much of a sausage Pack party, but I thought bringing back a familiar character was better than creating an OC (considering Alec is basically one already) and because I’m too lazy to create one.


	10. Picture perfect heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some plot unfolds and Theo is shirtless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new job is still kicking my ass. So sorry for the long wait in between chapters. :(

Theo wakes in the morgue again.

The metal is freezing against his bare arms and feet and through his thin t-shirt. A sob tears out of his throat and bounces off the walls of his temporary prison. He hasn’t had a dream so vivid in months and he knows what he’s supposed to do, just like he’s done countless times, but what’s the point really. She always catches him, time and time again until he’ll finally wake up at some point and so it goes, round and round.

So what if he stays in here? Will Tara leave him alone, with the dead, where he belongs? Or is he bound for an endless circle of torture anyway?

Is that her, crawling through the corridors, the sound he hears? Her voice, calling to him. He should run, but he’s tired. How many times is she going to rip his heart out before she actually kills him? Will she ever be satisfied?

A shot rings out in the silence. It’s loud, so loud it could have been fired three feet from him.

Before he knows it, he’s kicked his way out.

More shots fired, but so more distant now, and feet running, garbled yells. This is new.

He tries to follow the source, but comes to a stop in the middle of a familiar hallway. He should move, he should run. He can hear the noise of his sister dragging herself, the rasp of her voice calling to him and yet— there’s another voice, at the edge of his hearing, somebody else calling his name, like a distorted echo.

He knows the voice, it’s pleading, asking for help and he runs and runs and runs, even though he knows he’ll be too late.

He almost makes it to the door, Liam’s voice loud and terrified, the way he’s never heard him, the way he should never be. Liam is fierce and angry and innocent. He shouldn’t be here, right past the ward doors, his silhouette a dark shadow cast on the glass.

He screams — Liam, Theo, both, he’s not sure — right as the glass shatters, right as his sister is upon him, arm thrust through his back, hand closing around his heart, but he’s looking at the doors, the pool of blood spreading from beyond them and he knows fear all over again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He shoots up and then off the cot. He curses, disentangling himself from the thick blanket. As soon as he tosses it away, however, he realizes that he isn’t wearing anything from the waist up and he shivers in the cold air. He reluctantly picks it up again and wraps it securely around himself, nose twitching at the stink of blood and sweat.

He sits on the cot and takes stock of his current situation. He’s sitting in the dark, alone, without any knowledge of how long it’s been from the last memory he has, which is Liam puking into a sink.

He can hear voices coming from the other room, Melissa McCall, Deaton, Liam’s parents, Mason, Corey and…Deputy Parrish? Liam's, however, is conspicuously absent. He hears the shots again, loud so loud that he stumbles back against the desk, hissing when the corner digs sharply into his lower back.

There are no panicked screams from the other room, no sound of glass shattering, it’s not real, it’s just the dream, clinging to him like shroud and choking him with terror. She’s not real, she’s gone, the only piece of her left is inside him and the fingers in his chest aren’t there— but they were, he remembers—

The scalpel and the man, a dark shape bent over him, but that’s not right—

Liam was there, he remembers, there was no pain, Liam took it all away—

The door flies open, shocking him into a strangled shout. In his haste to get away, he steps on the blanket and trips over it, he falls back, arms shooting out to grab a hold of something. He only ends up toppling the PC monitor and the cup used as a pen holder, before tumbling to the ground with a resounding smack.

He groans.

“Er, Theo?” Corey’s tone is hesitant. “I thought I heard your heartbeat go crazy. Everything all right?”

“Peachy.”

“Ah.” There’s shuffling as Corey enters the room and closes the door behind him. “Only, you’re on the ground.”

Theo slings an arm over his eyes. Maybe he can just lie here, forever. It’s cold, just like the morgue, his sister should have no problem finding him. “Where’s Liam?”

Corey stops fidgeting and goes suddenly, profoundly silent.

Theo raises his arm and sits up. “Corey,” he says. “Where. Is. Liam.”

Corey's eyes get progressively wider as the silence stretches, his mouth flaps like that of a fish. "We don't know," he finally settles on. "He stormed off before Mason and I got here. We tried calling but..." He shakes his head.

Theo pats his pockets for his phone, but he comes up empty handed. He usually tosses it in the glove compartment as soon as he's the driver's seat. He looks up at Corey and extends a hand for his.

Corey, a confused frown dimpling the space between his eyebrows, reaches out to grasp his hand. Theo rolls his eyes and snaps his fingers. "Phone!" He says, exasperated. "Give me your phone."

Corey freezes in the act and his cheeks color faintly. "Oh. I left it on the reception counter."

This time, Theo accepts the hands up. He hikes the blanket up on his shoulders like a cape and then leaves the room. There's the noise of the monitor being picked up and then Corey follows him out. As soon as he steps into the reception area, all the talking ceases and six heads turn to him almost in unison.

"Ah, you're up," Dr. Geyer says. "How are you?"

Theo parts the folds of the blanket to show his unblemished, if a little grimy, chest. "Like new."

"Remarkable," his voice full of wonder, Dr. Geyer takes a step towards him, hand reaching out as if to touch.

Theo flinches away from the fingers, as a cold wave of terror crashes on him and rolls down his back. He swallows but his heart seems to be lodged in his throat, beating a wild rhythm. Both Corey and Parrish's heads snap to stare at him, eyes narrowed, when his breath stutters. He snaps his arm to his shoulder, tucking the corner of the blanket in the folds it makes at his neck, shielding his chest with the thick cotton. Cloth doesn't seem to stop his sister in the dreams, but he feels marginally safer, nonetheless.

"Nice poncho," Mason says. "Goes well with the hair and the blood spatters on your jeans."

Theo frowns and pats his hairs down, trying to get it under under control. He finds resistance when he cards his fingers through the strands, though, a clot of something that he doesn't really want to think about. He gives a disgusted sound and gives up.

Mason continues, "you look like you've had better days, man," his voice is soft, sympathetic, and so is the clap of his hand on Theo's shoulder, taking him completely by surprise.

Theo blinks at him and fights the instinct to shrug his hand off. He keeps the blanket closed with his left hand and juts his right from under his 'poncho'. "Phone," he says wiggling his fingers at Corey.

"Where's yours?" Corey asks, but he stills grabs his phone from the counter and slaps it into his hand.

"Truck." He freezes, then looks at Liam's parents. "Is my truck fine?"

There's a beat before Liam's mother says "it still runs?” in a very familiar tone.

That's not encouraging at all. The dents and the scratches he can deal with, but if the windshield is shattered, there's no way he can use it for transport and for sleeping. Insurance rates are through the roof in Beacon Hills — not without cause — and he can't afford to have one.

He takes a deep breath. One thing at a time, first of all, to find out if the idiot has gone and got himself killed. He calls up Liam's name and is about to proceed with the call when the phone is snatched out of his hand by Mason.

"Yes, because we haven't been trying to call him already."

"Maybe this time he'll answer." Mason gives him a look. "Why aren't you out looking for him, then?"

"We were waiting for you to wake up."

"Ah." He clears his throat and looks down at himself. "I need a shirt."

"And a change of trousers," Parrish adds.

"And maybe a shower?" Mason squints at him.

Theo grunts in acknowledgement and makes his way to the truck to grab his stuff. He shivers as soon as he steps out in the night: the blanket is warm, but drafty. His steps falter at the sight of his truck. The windshield is definitely a goner, there's no way that Parrish is going to let him drive off with it. At least it'll be easy getting into it, now that Liam's gone off who knows where with his keys. He picks at the frayed hem of the blanket and wraps himself tighter as he jogs to the truck.

If all else fails, he can crash at the clinic.

The doors aren't locked. He grabs the gym bag from under the seat and goes through it until he comes up with a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He digs some more, but finally comes to the conclusion that he doesn't have any clean underwear left. With a sigh, he slams the door shut and then opens the one on the driver's side. With the help of the dome light, he finally finds his phone, peeking out from under the mat on the passenger side.

He grabs it and then slams the door, flinching when some of the windshield that's been hanging on shatters and scatters on the dashboard.

He still has some power left, and his fingers call Liam before he even realizes he's doing it. The call gets directed to voicemail after five rings. If that fucking idiot has got himself killed—

The casing of his phone creaks alarmingly in his grip. He takes a deep breath and slides down until he's crouching, his back to the truck. He curls on himself, leaning his forehead against his clasped hands still holding the phone, almost like in prayer. It takes another couple of breaths before he finally gets himself under control.

He stands back up and shoves the clothes under his left arm, before adjusting the blanket. As he jogs back to the clinic, he idly checks through the couple notifications he has — just Mason letting everyone know in the group chat that he's alerted Scott about the attack — and freezes in the middle of the parking lot just as he's about to close the messaging app.

He scrolls up, past all the inane messages about Liam not being allowed to have burgers and how boring chemistry is, until he comes to the picture he took in the teacher's house. He double taps on it and then zooms in on the smiling man in the picture. There's nothing especially noteworthy about him, not exactly handsome, but not plain either, of unclear ethnicity; he looks like an ordinary person, but Theo has the sudden recollection of seeing his face — features distorted by the shift, that's why he hasn't recognized him sooner — looking up from a grainy picture in one of the many, many files the Dread Doctors kept.

With the picture so zoomed in, he also notices the leather cord that disappears under the man's collar. His finger automatically goes to trace the barely visible outline of what must be a pendant. When he touches the screen, the picture reverts to the original size, but he has his answer already.

He rushes back inside.

He chucks his clothes and the blanket on one of the waiting room chairs and strides up to the reception counter. Mason, Mrs. McCall and Corey part like the Red Sea, she on one side and the to other two on the other — though not before sneaking down a glance to check out his chest. Theo has lost some muscle mass because of his irregular eating habits lately, but he has nothing to worry about there, judging by the spike in heartbeats.

He lays the phone on the counter, screen up so everyone can see. "He's a werewolf."

Everyone looks at him, then they turn to the phone. While Corey, Mason and Parrish make appropriately interested sounds, everyone else turns back to him, confused.

Mrs. McCall turns the phone towards her, frowning in concentration, but then she shakes her head no and passes it to Parrish. "Who's that?"

"It's photo we found at Liam's French teacher's house." He crosses his arms and shrugs. "I can’t recall exactly, but I just remembered seeing his photo in some of the Dre—" he falters and shoots a look at Liam's parents, "it doesn't matter. I'm positive he's a werewolf."

"Liam doesn't have a French class," says Mrs. Geyer, then she frowns. "You went to her house?"

"It's a long story, Mrs. Geyer," Mason says. "We were uh, following up on a lead."

Parrish looks up from the phone and slowly turns to stare at him, one eyebrow raised.

"There's more. Look." Theo gets his phone back and zooms on the image like he did earlier. He points at the shape of the pendant under the cloth of the man's white t-shirt. He grabs a pen and a sheet of paper from the printer and then carefully reproduces the symbol: a circle flanked by the two crescents of a waxing and a waning moon. "The triple moon. Liam found this pendant in the house. It's a pack symbol."

It's likely the same pendant. The leather cord looks to be the same as the one he buried has. It's been made shiny with use, likely it's been worn constantly, before it ended up in the drawer from where Liam took it. The pendant looked like somebody's touched it or held it many times, eroding the outer layer of the metal. It's strange that such an obviously well-loved and well-worn thing was hidden away in a drawer.

"It's an anchor." The realization comes with a sharp intake of breath. "The necklace is his anchor." He frowns down at the picture he's just drawn. He taps the pen. "But she had it and no one else lives in the house...Oh." He drops the pen. "He's dead."

"Liam stole her dead boyfriend's anchor?!" By the end of the sentence, Mason's voice is so high-pitched, it's basically a screech. "His anchor. The dead boyfriend's. Liam stole it." He shakes his head, apparently having a hard time coming to terms with it.

Liam's parents are also having a hard time. Dr. Geyer seems struck into dumbness, while Mrs. Geyer turns to Mason, with a shocked expression. "Liam went to a teacher's house and stole from her?!"

"As I said," Mason raises a finger. "It's a long story."

"Yeah, apparently they were following a lead," Parrish says, deadpan, arms crossed over his chest. Next to him, Deaton is looks like he's trying really hard to keep a serious face, while Mrs. McCall has no such qualms and just chuckles.

Mason takes a deep breath and claps Dr. and Mrs. Geyer on one shoulder each. "Look, had I been informed about Liam's stupid plan, I'd have vetoed it, being the brain of this operation," he says. "But since Liam decided to go to our resident psychoki—" He yelps as Corey digs an elbow into his ribs. "Theo," he clears his voice, while exchanging narrow eyed glares with Theo. "Well, here we are. Let's put this experience to good use as a lesson on what should be avoided in the future." He turns to glare at Theo one final time before dropping his hands from Liam's parents' shoulders.

Theo rolls his eyes at him and then nods at Corey. "Hey. Earlier, when we were getting burgers," and man, that feels like it happened a lifetime — and a whole truck — ago. "You mentioned she talked to him this morning and you had to rescue his sorry ass."

Liam's words earlier were 'helped me make a timely exit', but Theo can read between the lines and anyway if Liam wants to recount his version of the events, he should be here and not wherever he is, likely getting shot in his stupid empty head.

"I didn't hear the whole thing," Corey raises his shoulders, "but I did hear mention hunters and tell Liam that he should be careful. Also, she definitely knows that you two broke into her place."

Parrish steps forward and taps the screen of Theo's phone to make the picture reappear, now that the screen's gone dark. "Jones doesn't seem to be a hunter at all, though," he says. "Quite the opposite." He considers the photo, before adding, softly, "they looked happy."

"Then how did they know when and where to find him?" Mason shakes his head. "They don't have anyone with access to students' records anymore and Liam would notice if someone were following him."

"Maybe it's the dead pool again?"

Mrs. McCall turns to Parrish after that, "well, isn't that a terrifying prospect?"

"Not everyone who's seen us has been arrested or," here Corey shoots a glance at Theo "died. It could be they just know who we are."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Dr. Geyer raises his hands and makes a shushing gesture. "A dead pool? People with guns knowing who my son and his friends are? Liam made it sound like what happened was random, just because he's a—a werewolf. Now you make it sound like they were a hit squad?"

Mason opens his mouth, but Mrs. Geyer gets there before him, "Mason, if the next words out of your mouth are 'it's a long story' I'm going to put cilantro everywhere whenever you stay for dinner." Mason snaps his mouth shut.

"It's never not going to be scary," Mrs. McCall says, then. "It's going to be endless nights like this one, waiting for him to come home and praying to every god you can think of that if he comes home with clothes ripped and bloodied, the blood is someone else's. It's going to be a life of lies and misdirection, because the world would call them monsters and destroy them, otherwise. They're our children, but they're not children. They're strong and brave and they know what they're doing," she shoots Mason a knowing look, "even if it may not look like it, sometimes."

It's a nice speech, Theo has to hand it to her. It's probably true, too, and it certainly is true both in Liam and Scott's case for the brave and strong part, though he's not sure about the rest. Liam's parents seem somewhat convinced by the it, but he's not paying much attention, something that Corey's just said has stuck and sparked something of an idea.

What if they know already who they are? But where would they have met? School is unlikely, so maybe the hospital? Liam's step-father works there after all, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Liam finds himself there on occasions. As far as he knows, though, Theo himself is the only one who's had any contact with—

"Shit."

For the second time, he storms off in the direction of the parking lot. This time, however, he's without the warmth offered by the blanket and he gives a full body shudder as soon as he's in contact with the cold air. Behind him, the door slams open once more as both Mason and Corey follow him outside.

"I'm not going to ru—" he gets cut off by the faceful of blanket that Mason shoves at him. He rips it off with a growl, but he ends up draping it on his shoulders. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you going to do something somewhere?" Mason frowns at him. "We're coming with you." Next to him, Corey nods, lips pressed in a tight line, determined frown on his face.

"...I'm just going to the truck."

"Oh." Mason scratches his head. "It's just you had this look, like you figured out something..."

"And you think I was about to run off in the night, shirtless, without even a shower."

"Well, I thought you'd be driving," Mason shrugs, "but yeah, that's about it."

"I'm not one of you idiots, I like to put a minimal amount of thinking in what I do."

There are twin cries of outrage as Theo leaves them to go test his theory. Two sets of steps follow him and Mason is close enough to grab or rather fumble when Theo tosses the blanket back to him, before sinking to the ground, on all fours.

"What are we looking for?"

Theo crawls around the back of his truck, twisting his neck to check the undercarriage. He almost gets blinded when Mason turns on the flashlight function on his phone and directs a bright beam of light almost directly into his sensitive, night-vision enabled chimera eyes. He's so startled he hits his head against the fender.

Their snickering ceases when he turns slowly to growl at them, fangs and all.

Mason holds up the bundle of the blanket as if shielding himself. He turns off the light with a tap.

Theo turns back to truck and finds it after half a minute, stuck close to the wheel, hidden from view. He tears it off and stands up. Mason and Corey step hastily back to give him space as they peer curiously at the small black box in his hands.

"What's that?" Corey asks.

Theo tosses it at Mason just to see his panicked struggle as he juggles blanket and phone without dropping them. He smirks when it smacks on his forehead and then falls harmlessly on the bundle in his arms. Mason narrows his eyes at him, but it's like being glared at by a puppy.

"GPS tracker," Theo replies and heads back inside.

He keeps the door open for Mason to go through, then grabs the tracker and lays it on the reception desk, on top of the drawing with the pack symbol. "It was me," he says. "I mean, they were following me. The place where I work—" Mason interrupts him a frankly quite rude 'you have a job?!' as if Theo were a good-for-nothing slacker. He may have lax morals, but no one can say he's not goal-oriented. "The boss is…well, ally would be pushing it, but let’s say he’s tolerant towards people of the supernatural persuasion. There are a couple of werewolves there. And Lily, whatever she is. But there’s this another guy...” he gives a look to Parrish, “he was there that night at the Sheriff station. He probably heard about Joe employing non-humans and went to have a look. I’m pretty sure he recognized me.”

Parrish inhales sharply. "Are you absolutely positive?"

"The way he stares at me?" Theo shakes his head. "I really doubt I’m his type.”

Parrish nods and takes out his notepad and pen. "I'll check him out," he looks at Theo expectantly. "Name?"

"Rich Elliot, but I don't know if that's his real name," he crosses his arms and tries to rub some warmth back into them. "I know where he lives, though. I followed him home and staked out his place last night." He gives him the address.

Parrish freezes in the motion of jotting it down and his shoulders sag. "Of course you did," he sighs, but he finishes writing and then flips the notepad shut. "You know what would make my job easier? People telling me when a criminal has been sighted."

"He's human."

"I'm an equal opportunity cop," Parrish says. "And it's not like we don't have supernatural representation in the force, either."

"You have werewolf cops?" Mrs. Geyer asks. "Just how many werewolves are we talking here?"

"Parrish is a hellhound," Mason tells her, earning an annoyed look from Parrish, "but Liam said that Mrs. Holland from the bakery off Main Street is one. I'm not sure whether he was being serious though."

"A hellhound," Mrs. Geyer says, evenly, staring at Parrish.

"Mrs. Holland is a werecoyote," Deaton says. "She sometimes brings cinnamon rolls when she gets her beagle mix checked."

Mason nods enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, those cinnamon rolls are to die for!"

Parrish clears his throat. "Can we please get back on track?" He turns to Theo, "did you notice anything during your..." he  gets a pinched look, "stalking?"

"Not really," he replies with a shrug, "but it was only the one time and I didn't want to risk getting close enough to smell for guns or wolfsbane..." he trails off with a frown. He looks up at Parrish and then to Corey, on his left and like him they seems to have noticed it.

Mrs. McCall straightens up, alert. "What is it?"

"There's a car." Parrish says as he steps forward, unhooking the hood from his holster. He motions to everyone to stay back as he gets closer to the door.

Mrs. McCall and Deaton herd Liam's parents to the back room, while Corey makes himself and Mason invisible and Theo follows Parrish close, claws out and back to the wall. He listens as the car comes indeed closer and closer, reaching the parking lot and coming to stop. The engine turns off and there's the slamming of doors, hushed voices, too far away still for him to hear the words, but close enough to recognize who's saying them.

Parrish and Corey seem to realize it too at the same moment, because the first relaxes and secures his gun, while the other becomes visible again.

Theo goes past Parrish to get to the door, he slams it open and indeed there Liam is, clothes still torn and dirty, but safe and sound and relaxed and talking to some girl who looks vaguely familiar and...the French teacher? So Liam's gone to what he thought was a hunter to...what? Get himself killed?

Liam looks up at him then. He seems surprised for a second, but then he smiles brightly. "Theo! You're up!"

Theo glowers and storms back in, pausing only to get his clothes on his way to the shower.


	11. Hunter, hunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam ponders growing a beard. Theo gets naked for the cause.

It's gone past 1 in the morning when all the explanations are over, when all the tears and hugs over Lori's miraculous 'resurrection' have been shed and given and all chatter has died down to a quiet murmur. Deaton's been eyeing the clock on the wall not so covertly for the past fifteen minutes and everyone finally gets it and start gathering their belongings.

Everyone but Theo, that is. When Liam arrived earlier, he disappeared in the back room of the clinic. Liam's heard the shower come on and then turn off and then Theo came back, dirty clothes under his arm. There's been a heated exchange with Parrish, when it became clear that Theo wanted to leave but that he couldn't take the truck because it’d have to be impounded as evidence — "Evidence of what?" Theo's protested. "There’s just my blood, good luck explaining how a person that’s lost that much is very much not dead." Privately, Liam thinks he's got a point, but he's not making the mistake of agreeing with Theo in public if he can avoid it — and with a dramatic snarl, Theo’s disappeared into the back room and hasn't come out since.

Liam fiddles with his phone, guiltily going through all the messages and the missed calls. There's even one from  _ Theo _ .

He's tried to catch Mason and Corey's eyes as Lori and Ms. Jones were recounting their story, but they don't seem to have picked up on it. That is, until Liam feels the light, but assuredly  _ there _ , touch of fingers on the outside of his left wrist. It takes all he has not to jump out of his skin.

"Wow, you must have been somewhere else," comes Corey's whispering from next to him.

"It's been a tiring day," Liam whispers back and then, "back room." He looks up and catches Mason's eyes, who nods minutely and asks like three other questions to Ms. Jones before she’s even finished answering the first.

He slinks back and slips into the back room, leaving the door open so Corey can follow him. Inside, there's only Theo, sitting on the cot in the dark, the only source of light the screen of his phone as he scrolls through it. He's sitting awkwardly on account of the short wire of his phone charger, his hair are still damp from the shower and he smells of the weird aseptic soap.

"Hey," he says, quietly. Next to him, Corey becomes visible.

Only then Theo looks up, studiously avoiding looking at Liam. "Corey."

Whatever Theo's problem is right now there's no time to address it. Not that Liam would have any interest in doing so anyway. He's been spending quite some time with Theo lately, and he figure they're both due some space from each other, especially since Mason's ridiculous insinuation about him being Liam's anchor...an anchor is supposed to have a calming effect. Theo is anything but.

"Did you hear everything that was said?" he asks Theo.

"He guessed about Ms. Jones and the werewolf," Corey tells him. "He was pretty spot on."

He hears his mom wondering where he's gone. They don't have much time. "Okay, listen," he lowers his voice to the softest possible whisper so that Parrish and Lori won't hear. "We're going to check that hunter's house. This ends tonight."

" _ What _ ?!" Theo at least deigns to keep the volume down. "How much of an idiot are you?!"

"Fine, be that way. I just figured you'd want to be informed."

Theo lets the phone drop and snaps to his feet with a snarl. "Thoughtful of you," his whispering is harsh as he gets into Liam's face, "I'll be sure to let Scott know how stupid his beta is. Of course, by then he'll have killed me because I let you d—die in a stupid fucking endeavour that you think is brave or necessary or both."

By the end of his tirade, Theo's out of breath, his lips are pulled back in a snarl and his cheeks are flushed. He's trembling, though, and Liam's heard the way his voice cracked, his heartbeat steadily getting quicker, out of control, just as he doesn't seem to be able get his breathing to settle down.

"I'll—uh, I'll go. See you later, bye." And with that, Corey disappears, door closing quietly behind him.

That seems to break the tension all at once. Theo's shoulders slump and he looks away, fingers carding through his hair and leaving defined grooves in his damp hair. He moves back to the cot and sinks into it, sitting with his elbows on his knees and head down, hands interlaced at the back of his head.

"You were worried," the revelation punches out of Liam, unexpected.

Theo squints up at him, then shakes his head in disbelief. "Of course I was," he hisses. "We all were! A team of well-trained hunters tried to take you and your family out and they're still at large, or have you forgotten?"

Liam growls. "Oh, believe me. I haven't."

"Well, it certainly doesn't look like it, because not even an hour later you vanish without telling anyone where you're going and you don't answer your phone! Need I remind you that there are people dead set on killing you roaming around?"

"So let's go do something about it."

Theo stares at him, slack-jawed, then he seems to just give up. He shakes his head and walks away, dropping on his back on the cot in a groaning of springs. He stares resolutely at the ceiling, pointedly ignoring Liam. He looks ridiculous, lying ramrod straight, in the dark, without even a blanket and with his shoes unlaced but still on.

Liam gives him a last lingering look and then leaves.

  
  


* * *

  
  


 

**To: Theo** **  
** _ hey asshole _ _   
_ 01:34

_ we're gonna meet at your colleague's place in 1 hour _ _   
_ 01:34

 

_ I'll make sure to be asleep by then. _ _   
_ 01:34

  
  


**To: Beacon Hills Finest (Ha ha Mason)** **  
** _ just got to scott's, will be there in 1 hr  or so _ _   
_ 01:35

 

**Mase** **  
** _ Parrish just dropped us off _ _   
_ 01:35

_ Waiting for him to be out of range _ _   
_ 01:35

**Corey** **  
** _ Is Theo coming? _ _   
_ 01:36

_ he'd rather sulk and go 'I told you so' when we all die _ _   
_ 01:36

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Liam picks at his borrowed t-shirt and focuses on his hearing. Upstairs, his parents are sound asleep, Alec seems to still be listening to music, despite the fact that it's way too late and tomorrow is a school day. Melissa is still in the kitchen.

He checks his phone. If he doesn't leave soon, even running at werewolf speed, he's going to be late for the meeting with Mason and Corey. He kicks off his covers with a huff and bends down to lace up his shoes. He grabs his phone and makes his way into the kitchen.

Melissa is sitting at the table, fingers curled loosely around a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. She raises an eyebrow at him as soon as he enters. She gestures to the chair opposite her, but Liam shakes his head.

"I'm going out."

Melissa takes a deep breath. She looks tired, more tired than the late hour warrants. "I gave them a whole speech on how you kids know what you're doing," she says, pointing in the vague direction of upstairs, where his parents are probably going to spend the whole night not sleeping, in the guest room. "Don't make me a liar."

Liam's hands go to grip the back of the chair, but then he feels the familiar rush of heat and the growl that builds up in his chest. He feels the claws come out and snaps his hands back. "They almost got killed because of me."

"No, they almost got killed because some bad people are afraid."

"Same result." He takes a deep breath and finally the anger dissipates. "Lori and Ms. Jones..they want revenge. I don't know if Lori is capable of killing. The Lori I knew...I'd say no, but she's lost everyone. Her brother, her Pack...I don't know what I'd do in her place."

He still isn't over Brett's death and they weren't even that close by the end. What's going to happen if his parents, or Mason, get killed? It's too late to keep Mason out of this, but up until tonight his parents were safe in their ignorance.

"As for Ms. Jones...she seems mostly fine, but there's something off about her and I can't really get a read on her, it's like she's able to control not only her heartbeat but her other emotional responses. It's weird. And she's  _ definitely _ capable of killing." He shakes his head. "We need to get to the hunters before they do and the Sheriff and Parrish can't do it legally so it needs to be us."

The chair scrapes faintly against the floor and Melissa is around the table and hugging him a moment later. "Scott would be proud." She says softly, into his hair. "I'm proud of you."

He clenches his fist, but the claws has since gone. He hugs her back, tentatively. "I'm doing my best," he says, though it doesn't feel like much.  What if Mason gets hurt tonight? The fact that he's knowingly putting himself in harm's way doesn't make it okay for Liam to take advantage of it. Calling everything off isn't an option, either.

"You're doing great," she says, with one last gentle squeeze, before pulling back. She reaches for a drawer and fishes out a cattle prod.

A very familiar cattle prod.

She points at him. "Don't die," she says, and then she hands him the cattle prod. "Give this to Mason."

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Liam hears Melissa lock the door behind him, he takes a few steps and finds himself face to face with Alec. He's wearing all black and sturdy boots. He has a backpack.

"I heard you listening to music."

"Left my headphones on, upstairs."

Liam shrugs and motions for him to follow. One block later, he catches Lori's scent. He stops.

"What are you doing here?" Liam's tone is perhaps a little too harsh, but he's the one supposed to be calling the shots here. There's already Alec who isn't supposed to be here, especially on a school night. He's spent most of the year running from hunters so he has to be careful or he'll have to repeat the term. Melissa won’t be happy about that.

From behind a house, face pale in the dark, Lori pokes her head out and gives them a little wave.

She jogs over to them. "I heard you guys talk back at the clinic, so I followed you.” She digs something out of her pocket and hands it to Liam. It’s the pocket knife Theo’s made him drop in Ms. Jones’ garden. “I think this is yours. By the way, I’m coming with you.”

Liam should grow a beard, maybe people would respect his authority, then.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

As they get closer to the house, Liam's senses tell him they are indeed the last ones. Corey and Mason are invisible somewhere close to the hedge Theo is hiding behind. He directs Lori and Alec to a nearby bush and then goes to crouch next to him.

Theo gives him a sideways look. "Wipe that grin off your face," he grumbles. "This is idiotic and dangerous."

Liam's grin only gets bigger. "And yet you're here."

Theo opens his mouth as if to retort, but then he seems to think better of it. He bumps his shoulder into Liam's. "Nobody dies, right?"

Liam nods. "Nobody dies."

Theo gestures to Lori and Alec. "What's with the interns?"

"Don't get me started," he groans. He turns towards the house, all senses focused. "Do you think I'd look good with a beard?"

Theo makes a weird, strangled sound and then whispers a ' _ what?! _ ' so quiet that it feels like he’s asking himself instead of Liam, while an invisible section of air in front of them chuckles loudly.

Liam feels his face grow hot. "It was just an idea." He clears his throat and diverts his attention back to the house. All the windows are dark and he can’t hear anything from here, but then again it’s the middle of the night. Theo mentioned earlier that he’s positive his coworker wasn’t one of the hunters that attacked at Liam’s house, so there’s a possibility that he’s not involved at all, though he really doesn’t want to even consider the possibility that there are more than one group of hunters still active in Beacon Hills.

He turns to Theo and looks between him and the empty air where he guesstimates Corey and Mason are. “How long have you guys been here?”

Theo shrugs. “Ten, fifteen minutes?”

“Thereabouts,” thin air confirms, with Corey’s voice.

“No movement?” Theo shakes his head. “Well, I guess we go in, then.”

Theo arches an eyebrow. He does stand up and steps closer to Liam, looking at him expectantly. Liam motions for Alec’s backpack and unzips it and starts rummaging as soon as he’s handed it. With a sound of triumph he whips out the cattle prod and almost elbows Theo in the face in the act.

“Mason, this is for you,” he shakes it in the vague direction of Mason’s position. “Melissa sends her regards.”

Mason appears and grabs it from his hands. He pushes the on button and electricity crackles along the rod. Both he and Theo take a careful step back at the casual way Mason’s waving the thing around.

“Niiice.” Mason reaches blindly behind him for Corey’s hand and an instant later he and his new cattle prod vanish from sight.

They spread out and, using the hedges and the trees as cover, they approach the house from the back so as to not be visible from the street and the other houses in the neighborhood. In the back, the house has a smallish garden enclosed by a 7 foot wall. Corey, still invisible, climbs on Theo’s shoulders and confirms that it’s all quiet on this side too.

Theo lets Corey down and then lifts himself up and over the wall. He barely makes any noise when he lands. There’s a long, tense moment of silence and then Liam hears him give the all clear in a hushed whisper.

He hauls himself up as well, but as soon as he reaches the top of the wall he slams into an invisible barrier and bounces back, plunging to the ground with a yelp and arms windmilling desperately. He lands badly on his shoulder, the crunch of his collarbone shattering eclipsed by the blinding pain that shoots through him.

He lies there, staring up and breathing in short gasp until he feels he has it somewhat under control. “Ow.”

There’s the sound of scrambling hands and feet and then Theo’s forearms and face poke out from beyond the wall. “You okay?”

Liam feels along his chest, gingerly, and grimaces when he finds the decidedly unnatural bend of his clavicle. He exhales and pushes against it, resetting it. He’s not embarrassed to admit to letting out a pitiful whine.

He gives the break half a minute to heal enough, then he cautiously sits up. “Mountain ash,” he tells Theo, who’s still hanging from the top of the wall.

“There’s none on the ground, they must have put it directly into the wall.” Theo frowns down at it, and now that Liam is looking closer, there’s a definite break in the style of the top layer of bricks and the rest of the wall.

After another minute, Liam stands up. He slowly moves his arm. It aches, but the bones seem to have rekindled fine. “We could use a hellhound right about now.” Except Parrish has told them, or at least heavily implied, that they shouldn’t do anything dumb. Like ambush the hunters in their own territory. “Well, at least now we have the confirmation that he’s still a hunter.”

Mason becomes visible and approaches the wall. He studies the height of it for a moment, tapping the cattle prod against his legs absentmindedly. He turns to Liam, at last. “We can stay invisible and have a look around, I guess?”

Liam shrugs in agreement, and between he and Theo, they manage to get Mason and then Corey over the wall. They both land softly on the other side and he hears Theo tell them to stay behind him.

“Be careful,” he says, only loud enough for Corey and Theo to hear. “We’ll be out here.”

There’s the soft sound of footsteps on the grass and then the crunch of the doorknob as Theo forces it, then the back door opens and they’re inside.

He’s so focused on his hearing that Lori’s voice coming from right next to him is so loud that it startles him. “How come the mountain ash doesn’t affect Theo?”

He blinks and shakes his head. “Oh. Well, he’s not technically a real werewolf,” he frowns, trying to come up with an explanation that doesn’t give too much away. He’s not sure how much Lori knows about the Dread Doctors, the chimeras and Theo specifically, though she doesn’t seem to be surprised by Corey’s ability to ignore mountain ash. Then again, Corey doesn’t smell like a werewolf, whereas Theo does. “I guess you could say he’s kind of a GMO.”

She makes a thoughtful sound and seems satisfied with that explanation so Liam tunes back in on the guys inside. They seem to have almost finished exploring the first floor, judging by Theo’s whispering updating them on their progress.

“Living room is clear too, moving upstairs,” he says, but then he seems to stop. Liam hears the sound of Corey and Mason colliding into him, followed by their whispered curses. “Mh.”

“Mh?! What does ‘Mh’ mean?” Liam scrambles up the wall to have a look inside, careful to steer clear of the barrier. Hanging on top of it isn’t very comfortable since he can’t really get a good grip and he slides back down after a moment. They’re too far inside to be seen, in any case.

“Nothing, just…the house sounds weird,” Theo replies. There’s a hint of frustration in his tone. “Let’s get on with this.”

You can’t trust Theo with many things, but you can certainly trust him when it comes to knowing when a situation is dangerous and potentially deadly, so Liam shushes Alec and Lori next to him and concentrates on the house itself, instead of his friends inside it.

There is, indeed, something weird. He can’t quite describe it, but the closest he can come is an echo where there shouldn’t be one. It’s like entering a huge room blindfolded and still get a sense of how big it is. His eyes snap open and he rushes to the front of the house, to get a view of the street.

There aren’t any cars parked directly in front of the house, but then Liam sees them, scattered among the other cars and parked at various distances from fifty to a hundred yards, dark SUVs with tinted windows.

He turns back to the house to hear Theo, Mason and Corey going up the stairs to the second floor and lower, lower, sounding far away he hears, the faint beating of several other heartbeats.

He fumbles for his phone as he sprints back to Alec and Lori. When he comes around the corner, they’re already wolfed out and alert, looking up at him for instructions.

Mason answers on the third ring, whispering. “Liam, what—”

“Get out of there!” The faint clicks of several guns being loaded, combat boots. “They’re underground!”

Liam hears Theo curse and then there’s their frantic running to leave before they’re caught. Somewhere in the house, a door opens and now the heartbeats are clear, there’s many, too many of them. Liam counts six.

“Go out the front door!” He says, as loud as he dares, hoping that Theo and Corey will think of listening for him in the chaos. 

He motions for Lori and Alec to follow him and they rush around the house. He takes the steps to the porch in one jump and throws himself with all of his strength against the door. The wood splinters and bursts inward and the door swings open, banging against the wall. Liam, however, bounces back against another invisible barrier. Not surprising, considering the garden wall, but still frustrating.

Standing where he is he’s got a  full view of the hallway, but he can’t see anyone, he can only hear sounds of struggle, muffled growls and shouts. When the first shot rings out, he throws himself against the barrier with a strangled growl, heart in his throat.

At the end of the hallway the right hand wall gets pockmarked by gun fire. He hears the hunters get closer and he hears his friends’ heartbeats closer still, he smells their scents, but can’t really see them.

“Move, you id—” Theo’s voice says and then Liam is bowled over by the momentum of two chimeras and a human, all of them invisible and running for their lives.

They go sprawling down the steps, Liam ending under Corey, who’s popped back into existence. Mason stumbles, tries to jump over over them and ends up falling face-first into a bush. Theo, insufferable asshole that he is, jackknifes mid-air and gracefully lands in a crouch, ready for action.

Liam pushes Corey away and springs to his feet, just in time to avoid being hit by a volley of bullets from the first hunter that is out of the door. He roars at him and distracts him long enough for Lori to ambush him from the side of the door. She kicks the gun away and knocks him out with a well placed punch to the face.

Alec grabs him by the collar of his tac-vest and drags him around the corner, out of sight.

“Scatter!” Liam hisses and runs to the closest car. He slides to a stop on the side opposite the house, using the car as cover. He cautiously peeks around the fender in time to see Theo taking his position on the roof. 

Lori, Corey and Mason are nowhere to be seen, likely invisible, Alec is still around the house, he can barely see him, bent over the unconscious hunter.

Nothing moves for a long moment.

The hunters might decide to stay inside the house, where their position is more defensible, but someone has to have heard the shots and even if this is Beacon Hills, someone  _ might _ eventually call the police. Those guns might have been bought with a regular permits, but Liam would bet good money he still owes Melissa for her armchair that they don’t want the police sniffing around them.

One of the windows on the top floor shatters and a hunter takes position behind it with what looks a precision rifle, at least according to Liam’s admittedly limited knowledge of guns. The hunter, however, isn’t ready for Theo dropping from above and kicking him in the face.

There are some alarmed shouts from the hunters still on the first floor, but Theo has already chucked the gun out the window and has jumped down to the side of the house, out of Liam’s view.

The gun falls with a clatter and disappears a moment later.

Two down.

Silence again.

And then the last four hunters burst out from the front door, weapons up and pointing to cover the widest possible angle. They move fast and well-coordinated, but they don’t seem to be looking for a fight now and they’re making a beeline for the closest SUV, which is parked on the other side of the street, about fifty yards away. The shortest path will take them directly by the car behind which Liam’s parked.

It’s a small Japanese hatchback and it looks like it wouldn’t weight more than 2,500 pounds. He probably won’t be able to flip it unless he’s willing to risk raging out, but he can certainly push it. Liam slides until he’s more or less in the middle of its side and splays his hands on the metal. He listens carefully for the hunters and when he judges they’re close enough, he takes a deep breath and  _ pushes _ .

It turns out that the car is deceptively heavy, but he still manages to shove it in the path of the hunters, sending one of them to the ground and causing the others to crash into each other. 

His arms still aching from the effort, Liam springs forward and jumps the closest one, slapping away his gun. He gets punched in the face, but he barely feels it and responds with an open-handed hit to the solar plexus, sending the hunter stumbling back.

Liam whips around to take care of the next and gets shot point blank. Fortunately, the aim is off and all he gets is a graze between shoulder and neck. The wound burns, though, and this close the discharge is deafening. He stumbles back, hands cradling his ears.

What sounds like Mason’s voice yells his name and then he pops into existence right behind the hunter, cattle prod raised. He deals a sound hit to the man’s shoulders and back and the prod discharges with a crackle.

The hunter screams and drops immediately.

Three down.

Number four is helping number five from where he’s stuck between the wall and the car, number six is pointing his gun at Mason, who’s standing frozen and gaping at him, cattle prod clutched protectively in front of him, but he’s too far to actually use it.

Liam pushes him out of the way and then lounges at the hunter, going for a low tackle. He reaches him at the same time as Corey, who drops the invisibility, probably just for Liam’s benefit, and slugs him across the face.

The hunter goes down hard and Liam with him, crouched over his chest, he’s still conscious though and putting up quite the fight. He knees Liam in the kidneys, almost toppling him, and takes advantage of him losing his balance to get to the knife strapped to his belt. He slashes at Liam’s side, but the blade glances off his ribs harmlessly.

Liam backhands him across the face and he goes limp.

Four down.

He snaps his head up to the two remaining. Number four is still trying to get his companion unstuck but he freezes and turns to look at Liam when he hears the growl. There’s a moment of complete stillness, but it doesn’t take much for the man to come to the conclusion that he’s not so loyal to his companion after all. He raises his assault rifle and fires off a burst, sending Liam, Corey and Mason diving for cover.

He runs in the opposite direction of the closest SUV, still squeezing off bursts of fire behind him. He leaps onto a dirt bike that Liam’s completely missed, because of course he has. With a frustrated growl he starts running after him and is quickly flanked by Theo.

“I didn’t consider the stupid bike!” He yells at Theo.

Theo, who’s taking off his t-shirt.

Theo, who’s hopping from one foot to the other taking off his shoes.

Theo, who’s hooking his fingers in the waist of his sweatpants and is shoving them—

Liam gives out a scandalized squawk and he trips over his own feet. “What are you  _ doing _ ?!”

“I’m faster on four legs!” Theo yells at him, kicking off his pants. Liam is left looking at his naked back, his shoulders, his legs, his buttocks. He stumbles to a halt, mouth suddenly dry. All that smooth, pale skin is gone barely a moment later, however, replaced by glossy black fur, and Theo is off after the last hunter.

“Don’t get shot!” He yells after him and after only a moment’s hesitation he bends to pick up the scattered clothes.

When he turns back, he finds Mason staring off in the direction Theo has gone, eyes wide and slack jawed. Liam clears his throat loudly, making him startle. 

“What?”

Liam narrows his eyes at him. “Never mind.”

Beyond Mason, Alec is taking handfuls of zip ties out of his backpack and passing them out to Corey and Lori. The kid’s resourceful, Liam’s got to give him that. 

He drops Theo’s clothes and shoes on the car that’s now on the sidewalk and sits on the hood. He watches as the hunter who’s still stuck against the wall struggle some more and then give up when he looks up and catches Liam looking at him.

Liam takes his phone out and finds Sheriff Stilinski’s number.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Theo comes trotting back half an hour later, still in wolf form.

By then, the Sheriff’s already there with several cars. They’ve cordoned the house off and brought in the hunters that Alec and Lori helpfully left splayed out, securely tied up, before the entrance.

Lori’s left and Melissa has been by to pick up Alec, Corey and Mason, so Liam’s the only one of the Pack left at the scene. He’s hiding out of sight in the back of Parrish’s private car. Parrish, who has yet to speak a word to him, is standing in front of the hunters’ house, in what looks like a serious conversation with the Sheriff. As stand in for his Alpha, Liam’s got a responsibility to see this through. He’ll probably have a more in depth chat with the Sheriff later, too.

That, and he’s been keeping Theo’s clothes for him.

He hears him, before he sees him. Soft pads on the grass and a huff. Liam throws open the door just as Theo is shifting back. Black fur turns into pale, nearly hairless skin and hard muscles and this time Theo  _ is facing him _ . Liam gives a startled yelp and hits his head in the door frame just as he’s jumping out the car.

He crumples against the door groaning in pain and clutching his head, while Theo with his miles of skin and muscles chuckles like the asshole he is.

Liam rubs at his aching head and chucks the carefully folded clothes in Theo’s vague direction while trying to keep his eyes averted. Of course, Parrish’s car is polished to perfection and gives off an almost perfect reflection. He squeezes his eyes shut.

There’s a rustle of fabric as Theo gets dressed. Far too slowly, really, what is he doing? He opens his eyes to check and almost chokes on his own tongue when he catches him in the act of tugging up his sweatpants. 

The elastic catches briefly under the curve of his buttocks and Theo has to give a little shimmy to finally slide it past. This isn’t a good moment to find out that apparently his appreciation for shapely backsides transcends the boundaries of gender.

In fact this is quite possibly the worst moment, with Theo so close and so—  _ shapely _ , and Parrish only a few yards away.

“Uh,” he says, intelligently. “I couldn’t find your underwear…”

“Didn’t have any,” Theo says, and Liam can tell from his voice that he’s got his stupid smirk plastered on. “Laundry day.”

God, strike him down.

  
  



	12. Every good plan starts with a map and a music montage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chimera teen gets offered a job and a place to live, is still trash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so long it could be a fic on its own. Enjoy!

By the time Theo’s back at the vet clinic, it’s too late — or too early — to even attempt to get some sleep, so he just grabs his work clothes and gets started on the long hike to the site. Parrish has unfortunately made good on his promise to impound his truck and his hopes of ever leaving Beacon Hills are getting fainter and fainter by the minute. Maybe he should just go live in the preserve as a wolf, it worked for Malia and she started when she was only a child, how hard could it be?

The walk is long and even with his supernatural endurance, he’s feeling the toll of the previous day’s activities. Also, he hasn’t got any decent sleep in  _ days _ . He wonders if he stays a wolf, the dreams will eventually disappear. His senses are different and his sense of self is different, so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that his wolf would affect his dreams, too.

Or maybe Tara would just rip his — her — heart out from his wolf chest instead of his human one.

He gets in view of the construction site with about twenty minutes to spare. He continues on to the gas station up the road and buys a coffee so he can take advantage of customer ‘privilege’ and get changed in a toilet that reeks of piss and stale vomit and other things he doesn’t really want to think about.

Sitting on a dilapidated wall and watching cars go by, he has breakfast with the blandest coffee he’s ever had in his life and the last protein bar he got from the vending machine at the high school.

It’s a mystery how he’s ever thought that he was destined for greatness.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Rich doesn’t show up for work, which doesn’t really surprise Theo, seeing as he knows for a fact that he’s currently in a jail cell in the Sheriff’s Station, waiting to be processed. What surprises him is Joe coming out of his office, mid-morning and gesturing him over.

Theo removes his gloves and uses them to slap away some of the dust he’s currently covered in and jogs to the office. He lets himself in and closes the door behind him. When he turns around, he finds Joe staring at him with a serious frown. His stomach drops.

“What was it that I said when I hired you?”

“Be here from 9 to 6 Monday to Friday.” Joe arches an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Not to give you any problems.”

Joe nods. “And what did you do?”

There’s no way that, even if he knows about Rich’s arrest, he’s aware of Theo’s role in it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

And there goes the other eyebrow, to complete the tableau of just how unimpressed Joe is right now. He sighs and leans back against the chair. “I can’t afford to cut you loose now that we’re already one man short, but as soon as I find a replacement, you’re out,” he tells Theo. “I have very simple rules, so I expect them to be followed to the letter.”

Theo stares at him in disbelief. This asshole is willing to hire a guy who went after kids — and okay, so did Theo, but it was more of a personal thing in his case and in the end he kind of helped Mason with the whole Beast thing, and anyway that’s not really the point here — but when Theo is only tangentially, and technically not so willingly, involved with said asshole’s sudden inability to show up at work, and who, by the way, should be grateful to be sitting in jail instead of lying dead with his throat torn out like he deserves, then  _ Theo _ is the bad guy.

Maybe Theo should look into the Buddhist thing, because it seems like they got it right with that whole karma crap they have going.

Joe gives him an exasperated look and stabs with his fingers in the direction of the door. “Well? Go back to work.”

Theo’s answer is unzipping his overalls and taking them off. Joe sputters and jolts from his seat, as a half-naked Theo shoves his dirty and dusty work clothes on the desk, toppling Joe’s mug and drenching his undoubtedly important documents with lukewarm coffee. He gives Joe a yellow-eyed glare and then leaves the office without saying a word.

Outside he goes to the bench where they keep their packed lunches and jackets and grabs the pants he’s left there. He puts them on and when he looks up again, he finds himself the focus of the collected gazes of José, William and Paul. He buckles his belt, smoothes his t-shirt down and then sits on the bench, bending over to unlace his sturdy safety boots and switch to his Chucks.

As he’s working on the second shoe, two shadows fall on him. He squints up to find José and William, looking down at him with contrite expressions.

“Joe giving you a hard time over Rich?” William asks.

Theo shrugs and goes back to unlacing the boot.

“Don’t feel bad about it, man,” William presses on, despite the fact that Theo really doesn’t feel bad about costing Rich his job. It’s more the other way around. “Rich was an asshole.”

He tosses the boot aside and shoves his foot in the sneaker. “On that, we can agree,” he grunts.

They both make sounds of agreement and the conversation would be over here if it were up to Theo, they’re all non-humans but their similarities end there, really. They seem to be able to mind their own fucking business and not get dragged into all kinds of heroic crap by wannabe Alphas in training for example.

They don’t leave, though. This time, it’s José who speaks. “You’re with the McCall Pack, right?”

Theo winces and for a moment he’s completely forgotten how to tie shoes. He knows they’ve noticed it — they are werewolves, after all — but they don’t comment. He swallows around the knot in his throat and shakes his head. “Not really,” he manages in the end. “I’m kind of a freelancer.”

“Omega, huh?” William nods, sympathetic. “Hey, it’s not so bad.” He shares a grin with José.

Theo probably doesn’t even grade up to an omega. He wonders if he’d be stronger within an actual Pack, but it’s just wishful thinking, no matter how many group chats Liam forces him to join.

José’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts. “Pack or no Pack, we know what you guys did last year. And last night too, apparently?” He scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I guess what I’m trying to say here is...thanks. For, you know, everything.”

Theo blinks. “Oh.” He clears his voice and picks at the hem of his t-shirt just to have something to do with his hands. “No problem.”

"And since after that scene, I suppose we won't be seeing you around anymore," José goes on, "I'd like to express my gratitude by telling you that Sinema's looking for a bouncer."

"Thanks."

"I mean, Phil's kind of an asshole too, but not one of those with guns," José shrugs. "If you want I can give him a call."

Theo looks away, unsure on how to act. He's never had people thank him genuinely for something he's done that wasn't a scheme or done with the intent of manipulating someone and it's strange that he should feel uncomfortable. He's risked his life fighting for something that doesn't entirely benefit him, he should deserve gratitude for it, or so he tells himself. It feels like no matter how much pain he takes and how much blood he bleeds, he'll never make up for the things he's done, for taking Tara's heart.

He's staring off in the direction of Joe's office so he sees him as soon as he comes out. Joe's eyes come to rest on the three of them, a frown darkening on his brow. Theo turns back to José and William and tilts his head in Joe's direction. "You better go back to work, don't want to get you in trouble."

William nods. "We'll give Phil a call."

"Appreciate it," he says, fidgeting on his feet. He gives them an awkward nod and then turns and leaves, trudging his long way back to the vet clinic, where he's left his things.

Laundry day, indeed.

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

 

 

He stuffs all the clothes he's not currently wearing in the washing machine and then starts it up. He falls on the bench and counts what he has left between coins and crumpled bills, but it doesn't take much. He's down to a little over 15 bucks and he's basically worked three days for free. José and William have come through and he's got a meeting with Phil after the weekend's over, so if he's lucky and gets hired, he only has to survive a week or two before he gets paid.

At least now he doesn't have to worry about gas, silver lining and all that.

The phone in his pocket start vibrating, almost making him drop the change. He hastily shoves everything back into his wallet and checks his messages. It's Liam, saying hi and informing him of a Pack meeting taking place at the Sheriff's Station, saying he understands if he can't make it because of work. There's no reason he couldn't have said it in the Pack chat Theo's apparently now a part of, unless of course this Pack meeting isn't going to include Alec and that hunter kid.

Liam confirms his assumption by texting 'just us B-listers Pack veterans' right afterwards.

He suddenly finds it hard to breathe, some kind of invisible force like a band constricting his chest. He feels the ghostly grip of Liam's fingers on his wrist, the way he zipped up his own hoodie when Theo was out and high on wolfsbane, the hoodie he's currently wearing. He's contemplated tossing it in the wash with the rest of his clothes — it's Liam's after all and he'll want it back at some point - but his scent still lingers faintly on it and Theo's put it on trying not to think much about it. Now though, Liam's scent is almost heightened and it feels like it's got its own presence, shrouding him like a comfortable and comforting cloak. He's tried ignoring the way Liam looked at him last night, the way he smelled, like adrenaline during the fight, and then something sharper later, when Theo got back.

Theo's about to reply that maybe he might be able to drop by, after all, when his phone gives one last, dying buzz and winks out on him. He stares down at it uncomprehendingly, before realizing that he's once again forgotten to charge his phone and, crucially, he's left the charger plugged in at the clinic.

He leans back and thumps his head against the shop window, eyes squeezed shut. He should leave. Ditch Beacon Hills and never look back. He can't risk Liam, not when he's the only one who knows him and treats him like he's not an expendable asset, most of the time at least. Theo should have enough restraint to resist him, he would have,  _ before _ , when he was driven by ambition and desperation, but now he's just Theo and nothing else. Now, he's wrapping himself up in the last scraps of his scent and he's thinking about the warm numbness of his pain melting away into Liam, now Liam indirectly calls him Pack and Theo's apparently having a breakdown.

The washing machine beeps that it's done with Theo's meager wardrobe. He sighs, shoves the phone back into his pocket and gets up up to move the load to the dryer.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

At 4 pm, Theo is waiting in the shade of a tree overlooking the Sheriff's Station parking lot. He's changed into clean clothes and has left Liam's hoodie back at the vet clinic in the gym bag of his sole earthly possessions — under Deaton's watchful and unreadable scrutiny —  in case Liam sees it and demands it back, and unwilling to explore exactly what that means.

Around a quarter past 4, Mason, Corey and Liam roll into the parking lot in Mason's car, or at least in a car that Mason's driving. They bicker the whole three minutes it takes Mason to parallel park, while Theo watches on, amused. Finally Mason turns to Liam in the backseat and yells at him so loudly, that Theo can make out a 'shut up, Liam!' even from where he is.

When he's sure it's safe to get closer without risking being slowly but inexorably run over, he pushes himself off the tree and bends down to retrieve the muddy plastic bag with the goods from their 'burglary' he's retrieved after doing the laundry. He takes his time walking up to them, making a point of staying in Mason's blind spot. He smirks at the way Mason sends one last glare at Liam and then almost gets tangled in the seat belt when he opens the car door and sees Theo standing there.

"Theo!" he squeaks, then he narrows his eyes at him right after. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough."

The back door opens and then slams closed. "Theo?" comes Liam's confused voice. "I thought you'd be at work."

Theo averts his eyes. "Kinda got fired." Liam makes a sound of distress and Mason and Corey exchange a worried glance. Before any platitudes about how sorry they are or how it's going to be fine, he shrugs. "No big deal, I might have another job lined up."

He finally raises his eyes to find Liam staring at him with what he'd define as an indignant look. To the best of his knowledge, though, Theo's done nothing to warrant such sentiments lately, and, judging by the glance Corey and Mason exchange right before shifting uncomfortably, they share his confusion.

"What?"

Liam looks away with a huff. "Nothing," he says, but his tone says the opposite. Theo doesn't even need to listen to his heartbeat to know he's lying.

"Liam.  _ What _ ?"

Liam shakes his head and sets off in the direction of the Station. Not even ten yards away he does an about-face and stomps back to them with a stormy look. He points at Theo. "You're just so— _ infuriating _ !"

Theo blinks at him, then he slowly turns to Corey and Mason, but they too seem to be completely in the dark.

Liam deflates with a sigh. "You know you can ask if you need a place to crash for a bit while you save enough money to find something on your own, right?"

He gapes. How the hell does Liam know? Has he seen him parked somewhere? Has Deaton told him? Has the Sheriff told him about the fact that deputies all over the Beacon Hills County seem to find him even in the most remote places and ask him to clear out as if it were their main sworn duty?

"Oh, come on! Everybody knows you've been living out of your truck!"

The shocked silence that follows that statement is proof enough that indeed, no one knew before Liam went and blurted it out. Corey's quiet, “...you’ve been living out of your truck?” just seals the deal.

"What the hell, Liam?!"

"You guys seriously didn't know? It smells like he's been living in there for months."

Which happens to be the truth, but still. "Wow," Theo shakes his head. " _ Great _ . Well, since my truck is now in the hands of the Beacon Hills County Sheriff—" he stabs his fingers in the direction of said County Sheriff's Station "—I guess I don't live in it anymore, so you got nothing to worry about."

Liam stammers something, cheeks going red with either anger or embarrassment. Or both. Theo slams the plastic bag into his chest, a bit too forcefully maybe, but it's totally deserved. "Here," he grunts. He lets go of the bag and Liam scrambles to grab it before it falls to the ground. It's left a brown, muddy smear on the front of his hoodie. "Thought you might want to be the one to give it back."

Liam glances down at the bag in his hands and then up at him with a sheepish look.

"What's that?" Mason pipes up. "Is that—" he goggles. "Are we about to enter the Sheriff's Station with a bag of stolen things?!"

"Good point, Mase." Liam opens the door and tosses the bag on the floor, behind the driver's seat.

Mason makes a token protest, but in the end he just rolls his eyes and locks the car. He gestures in the direction of the Station. "Shall we? It's Friday and Corey and I have a life, unlike you two."

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

They're sitting in a line, in front of the reception desk. The Sheriff's got apparently some actual Sheriff work and will receive them at his earliest convenience, or so the deputy on duty at the desk has told them. Mason and Liam are engaged in some kind of phone game and Theo still hasn't figured out whether they're playing against each other or separately and just talking shit about their respective skills.

"So," Corey says, from next to him, "what's this new job you've got lined up?"

Theo blinks at him. Even without taking into account his invisibility, Corey seems to have the innate ability to obfuscate one's senses to the point of blending into the background of their perception. Or maybe Theo just got distracted by Liam biting his lip in concentration.

"Sinema's looking for a new bouncer." He sees Corey widening his eyes and, behind him, Mason's attention snaps up from the game. Theo glares them down. "And no. If I do get the job, I'm not going to let you two in for free."

Mason sighs in disappointment and goes back to his phone, while Corey nods and kicks his legs out. "You know. I have a pretty big spare room," he says. Theo feels himself go rigid and makes a conscious effort to relax. "And I live close to Sinema. In case you do get that job."

Theo looks at him, but Corey's face is open and he's smiling slightly. Behind him, both Mason and Liam sit frozen, looking at him out of the corner of their eyes.

"I'll think about it," he says, quietly, looking away.

The blinds in the Sheriff's office part and Stilinski peeks out at them with an aggravated look. He pinches the bridge of his nose and then steps back, disappearing from sight. A moment later, he leans out the door and gestures at them with a nod of the head.

"You're lucky I sent Parrish home, boys."

They file in, in silence, and then Stilinski shuts the door behind them.

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

Stilinski offers them the chairs, but only Corey sits. Then he stands up again when he realizes no one else has sat. The Sheriff tosses some files on the desk and, when Theo makes to grab one, he follows his movements closely, eyes narrowed. In fact, he's been shooting him looks ever since they all stepped inside the Station. His glares are a mix of displeasure and confusion, the latter which they frankly have in common. Clearly, neither of them got the memo that Theo's presence at Pack matters is now a thing apparently.

Theo hastily passes the file to Liam and, keeping his eyes down, he plops himself in one of the chairs at the back. When he looks up, Liam is shooting him a confused look, while Corey is staring longingly at the chair next to him. He catches the Sheriff's eye and looks away, slumping further down in the seat.

Stilinski clears his throat. "So, the bad news is that none of the men we have in lock up is talking," he says. "However, one of them has a record for assault and battery five years ago, so we might dig up some information on him and maybe even some eventual contacts."

"Military?" Theo asks, and everyone turns to him. "The people that attacked Liam's house had some military training, obviously. So maybe these people too? One of them was using a precision rifle." Or well, he was about to use one, before Theo kicked him the face.

Stilinski shakes his head. "Not that we could tell, but..." he points at him and digs through his desk until he comes up with another file. He leafs through it and come out with a photo. He extends in Theo's direction and shakes it with an expectant look.

Well, it seems like they're being professional for now. Theo stands and reaches for the photo, while the others crowd around him. It depicts a table and a bench. There's a stain of dark blood, several evidence markers placed around it.

"That's from the house. We're running the DNA through several databases," Stilinski says, "but I'd bet it belongs to one of the people that attacked Liam and his parents."

Liam makes a sound of acknowledgement and then goes back to the file Theo's handed to him earlier. When the Sheriff doesn't continue, he looks up at him. "That's it? That's all we have?"

"That's all I have," the Sheriff throws his arms wide. "We're still trying to trace the weapons and my men at the house haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I'm hoping to book these guys here on illegal possession and unlawful discharge of firearms, but unless they speak up, there's no way I can tie them to the attack on your parents. Ballistics came back negative."

"But it's them!" Liam cries out. "At least one of them was at my house, the one who escaped on the bike!" Liam's voice is starting to color with a low growl and his grip on the file is bordering on doing irreparable damage. 

"Liam!" Theo slaps the back of his head and quickly avoids Liam's knee-jerk reaction of swiping an elbow back into his face.

Liam blinks at him, elbow suspended in the air, and then looks down at the file clenched in his other hand. "Oh," he says. He puts the file back on the desk and tries in vain to smooth down the creases he's made in the paper. Theo's pretty sure there are claw marks too. "Sorry," Liam tells the Sheriff. Then he turns to Theo. "Sorry," he says again.

Now, he's the one who goes to sit at the back of the room, arms crossed on his chest and staring resolutely at the floor.

Stilinski arches his eyebrows, but goes on. "No positive identifications and I can’t go to a judge with ‘a teenage werewolf smelled them’."

"Theo followed him," Mason speaks up for the first time. "T—The guy on the bike." Is it Theo's impression or is he  _ blushing _ ?

The Sheriff turns to him with a frown. "I thought he escaped on a motorbike. You  _ ran _ after him?"

"Theo can shift into a wolf. Or a coywolf, not sure," Liam mumbles, toeing some vague shape on the floor. "He's very fast that way."

Theo glares at him, but it's wasted as Liam is staring intently at his feet. Of course, Liam. Do give away all of Theo's secrets, why don't you.

Stilinski opens his mouth, then closes it, then finally shakes his head. "You know what, I'm not even gonna ask," he mutters. He looks at Theo, then. "So you followed him. Where did he go?"

"Do you have a map?"

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Half an hour later, the Sheriff's desk has been cleared of the files and they are pouring over a map of Beacon Hills and its surroundings. Theo traces the path of the chase with his fingers as best as he can remember. He was concentrating on not losing his quarry and things appear differently as a wolf.

What he's sure of, is the destination. He taps the location on the map when he finds it. "There."

Liam squints down at it. "The  _ tunnels _ ," he groans. "Of course. Why not."

"We should just seal them up," the Sheriff says, with a pinched look. "Just pour concrete into them. Half the troubles in this town would be over."

He's not wrong, Theo himself has spent quite a bit in those tunnels himself. He's not eager to visit anytime soon, which is one of the reasons that he's stopped before following the hunter further as he roared straight into them with the bike. Theo didn't feel like taking a walk down memory lane, the happiest of those being almost torn to shreds by half of the Anuk-Ite while trying desperately to defend Mason and not quite understanding the reason he should.

Last night he froze in fear at the sight of the dark, gaping entrance of the tunnels, almost like a maw about to devour him. He literally turned tail and ran back. He's not about to admit it out loud to anyone, though. "I didn't go in, in case I stumbled in yet another hunter cell while outnumbered," he shrugs, then looks at Liam. "I'm sure between Liam and I we could follow his scent and see where he went."

Stilinski makes a thoughtful sound, absentmindedly. He's studying the map, his eyes darting across it with a frown. He grasps his chin and tilts his head on one side. "I wonder..."

He goes to a filing cabinet, opens a drawer and thumbs through the files until he finds what he's looking for. He takes out a bundle of files and tosses them on the desk, then he closes the drawer and goes to another, repeating the actions. When he's done, there are two piles of files on the desk, one considerably taller than the other.

"These," Stilinski says, putting his left hand on the biggest pile, "are records of properties registered under Gerard Argent's name or one of his many aliases. And these," he taps the other pile, "are properties or funds registered to Monroe. Grab some markers, boys, we're going to be here a while."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

By the time they're finished, the map has color-coded — red for Argent, blue for Monroe, green for Argent's aliases — dots scattered all across it. Some are clustered, but overall they're evenly spaced in the whole county. Deputy Castillo comes in with yet another pile of files she drops on the desk, noise complaints and other general reports of disturbances in the past nine months.

"Those reports you asked for, Sir," she says, studying the map curiously. 

"Thanks, Castillo. You can leave," Stilinski says, grabbing the first file of the pile. When she doesn't seem to budge, he slowly looks up at her. "You can close the door after you."

She raises an eyebrow and then looks meaningfully from the map, to the official police reports stacked on the desk or lying open on the chairs, to Theo and the others.

"It's for a school project!" Liam blurts out and then turns to Theo with wide, alarmed eyes. He certainly shows brilliant initiative and quick thinking, but he always fails somewhat on the follow through, just like back at the zoo.

"We have to demonstrate the correlation between misdemeanors reports, such as noise complaints, and perceived community safety and how this impacts real estate," Theo lies smoothly. He flips through a report on one of Argent's properties, artfully projecting avid interest, and then smiles up at Castillo with a shy, boyish smile, with the barest hint of charming. He's seen how the way she's stared at his arms when she thought he wasn't looking. His eyelash flutter and he looks away as if embarrassed. He hears the stutter in Castillo's heartbeat and he shoots a glance at Liam, making sure she doesn't see.

Liam scowls, but nods. "Yes. Um. Real estate correlations."

"I see!" Castillo says, a little too shrill. She has a faint blush. "Sir," she nods at Stilinski and then hurries out.

The Sheriff snorts. "Damn, kid," he shakes his head. "Real estate?"

Theo holds up the folder in his hands. "Private property," he says, then points at the stack Castillo's just brought in. "Noise complaints," then he points at Liam. "Idiot opening his mouth without thinking." Theo shrugs, ignoring Liam's affronted 'hey!' "I had to work with what I had."

"Well, you're good, I'll give you that."

"You didn't have to  _ flirt with her _ , though" Liam grumbles and then looks up at him, embarrassed and with that deer in headlights look he gets when speaking without thinking, just like he's done thirty seconds ago. "Um, I mean. It wasn't very nice."

He rolls his eyes at him and tosses him a file from the noise complaints stack. "Flirting ensured she concentrated on her own slightly inappropriate feelings for a high-schooler ten years her junior rather than the bullshit I was telling her." A hush falls over the room. Theo glances up to see everyone staring at him, with looks ranging from impressed to surprised. "What?" It comes out too defensive for his liking, so he lets his lips twist in a smirk. "Manipulating lying asshole, remember?"

"Well," Mason raises his hands in a placatory gesture, "if the bouncer thing doesn't work out, you could totally go in sales."

"Can we get on with your 'school assignment'?" Stilinski taps on the desk to get their attention back to the task at hand. "I actually have a job and I didn't get enough sleep last night because some kids decided they'd take on gunmen by themselves."

Even between the five of them it takes an hour to filter through the reports and only transfer the relevant ones to the map — red cross for noise complaint, blue for suspicious behavior and green for ‘other’. There's also a small number of reports concerning the same truck and the same teenager spotted spending the night in vacant lots or quiet spots, but they get intercepted by the Sheriff and get set aside and marked as not suspicious, which is frankly the best possible outcome Theo can expect from him.

At the end of the hour, their map is a multicolored chart of constellations of dots and crosses.

Liam clicks the cap of his marker shut and stares intently at it, hands on his hips. "So," he frowns, looking down at it. "There are definitely some patterns, but I'm not sure this is very helpful after all."

They all make noises of agreements.

Liam takes the map and holds it vertically, arms out, as if a change of perspective could change the fact that their whole color and symbol-coding really isn't helpful at all.

Theo tosses his red marker down with a snort. "Great. What an amazing waste of time."

"Ah! Ah-ha!" Mason jumps up and starts flapping his hands. He grabs the map, almost tearing it out of Liam's hands in his haste and slaps it back on the desk. He smooths it down as best as he can and takes out his phone. "Tunnels!" He taps through his phone, coming up with what looks like some kind of unfinished and complicated drawing. "After the Dread Doctors and the Anuk-ite, I figured it would be good to keep track of the tunnels."

Liam grabs the phone from Mason and studies the screen intently, zooming in and out and panning the picture. "This is great, Mason! Did you start this when you and Theo went after Aaron?"

Mason, Theo knows, is only slightly less worse at lying than Liam. The only time he's been any good at hiding something in all the time Theo's known him is when he himself didn't know he was the Beast. It's no surprise then that, with the way his heartbeat suddenly spikes and with how he goes so very still and silent, even the Sheriff who's looking at the phone from over Liam's shoulder notices his reaction.

Mason clears his throat awkwardly. "About that."

"Mason?"

"So, let's just say that this has been a recent development," Mason looks away and then back at Liam, scratching the back of his neck. "A Sunday afternoon activity, some might call it."

Liam narrows his eyes, suspicious. He's very very still, but Theo can see the way his muscles are growing steadily tenser under the apparent calm. He takes a cautious step towards him, just in case he's going to wolf out and lose his cool in the middle of the Sheriff Station. There's only some much plausible deniability that closed blinds can offer.

"When?"

Mason exchanges a look with Corey, then sighs and lets his arms drop to his side, seemingly resigned to the fact that he's not getting his phone back anytime soon. "For the past three weeks or so?" he winches. "On and off."

"You went in the tunnels alone—"

"I go with Corey!"

"—without telling anyone—"

"Once again,  _ Corey _ ."

"—without telling  _ me _ ! Anything could've happened—"

"We are invisible the whole time!"

" _ Boys _ !" They both fall silence at Stilinski's perfected father voice. Theo's sure it's got plenty of use with Stiles over the years. "Can we  _ please _ get on with it?"

Mason snatches his phone back from Liam and goes back to the map. "We're still in the early stages of mapping," he explains, as he uncaps a black marker and starts drawing little triangles at random points on the map, "we have however found several entrances." He adds another triangle on the spot where Theo stopped following the hunter, then he steps back and observes his handiwork, putting the cap back on the marker.

There are three distinct instances where dots, crosses and triangles all coexist in a radius of less than a mile.

Liam tilts his head on the side. "Could be something."

"Could be nothing," Theo retorts.

"Good job, Mason," Stilinski says, giving him a clap on the shoulder. "Now you all, kindly get out of my station. We'll take care of this."

"On what basis?" Liam glances up at the Sheriff and then gives Theo a look he can't quite decipher. "You said it yourself, you can't go to a judge with a 'werewolf smelled it'." 

"Kid..."

"But, uh, you could go get a coffee?" Liam suggests, all wide-eyed innocence. "Or maybe go check on Deputy Castillo? I promise we'll leave as soon as you come back."

Stilinski gives him a long, suffering look. In end, though, he sighs and grabs his full coffee mug, dumps it into a potted plant and opens the door. "I'm going to get some coffee," he says loud enough for Castillo to hear and then he slams the door shut.

As soon as he's out, Corey, Mason and Liam move as one. Corey goes through the complaint reports, taking pictures of everything, while Liam takes care of the property files and Mason snaps several pictures of the whole map and then of smaller sections. The whole thing is a flurry of phones, hands, sheets of paper and panicked muttering that steadily climbs in volume and urgency.

Theo watches and finds himself grinning despite himself. He hands Liam a file he seems to have missed and finds himself on the receiving end of a glare.

"How about some help?" Liam growls.

Theo shrugs and waves the folder in Liam's face. "Phone's dead. I left it charging at the clinic."

"We really need to get you a power bank."

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Five minutes later, they've been glared out the Sheriff's office and out the Station itself.

Liam and Mason are walking ahead, crossing the parking lot to Mason's car, heads bent together on their phones. It's hard to tell whether they're checking the pictures they just took or playing their stupid game. 

"Didn't peg Mason for an adrenaline junkie," Corey looks at him, with an interrogative frown. "Dates in the tunnels? Where he almost died several times?"

"Mason is stronger than he looks," he says, with a small grin. He shifts his look back to his boyfriend, eyes softening noticeably. "And he likes maps."

He snorts. "Nerd." Apparently Mason also has a better sense of hearing than most humans, because he turns to glare at him. Theo gives him a toothy smile.

"I would never let anything happen to him," Corey says, as if to reassure him, though Theo has never really expressed much interest over Mason's safety, or at least not to Corey.

The only time he's actually tried to help him, he failed, back when he still had Deucalion's words in his head and was still trembling in fear because of the presence of the Anuk-ite. Mason said he didn't care, but Deucalion certainly hadn't cared when he took Theo's pain, Theo himself hadn't cared much for that hunter kid in the hospital. Caring is too simplistic, but then again it probably was Scott's explanation. In the tunnels, after the Anuk-ite, Theo cared about Mason, he cared about not going back to Liam with his dead best friend, not when Liam seemed the only one willing to leave him be, free and alive. But that night in the hospital, he remembers watching that hunter kid and seeing himself, dying in pain and alone.

Empathy, he supposes, is the key.

Theo couldn't take Mason's pain when he lacked the concept of comfort for comfort's sake, not when he only had vague memories of his family, not when he was left to fend for himself every time he's felt scared and alone, not when that terror was still so fresh he could taste it.

In the hospital, he was able to, because he's been that kid, still is, hurting and alone, deserving it because of all the monstrous things he's done and the blood on his hands, and yet desperately yearning for someone to make it stop. No one is going to help Theo and no one was going to help that kid.

Monsters got to stick together.

Yet, here he is, alive and well after having spent two hours in the company of Stiles' father, making plans to keep the city safe with the people that just one year ago were nothing more than expendable pieces on his chessboard, with Liam who took care of him when he was hurt, with Mason who's still suspicious of him but now calls him asshole instead of murderer, with Corey, whom he's probably hurt more than anyone here, offering him a place to stay.

It's like they're making an effort to make some space for him in their lives, for some reason he can't really quite fathom. He supposes his skills are useful to them, but not to the point that they should risk getting stabbed in the back. Not that Theo would do it, not now, but he would have. It's strange how they seem to have started trusting him when he doesn't want them to. 

He turns to Corey, an apology stuck in his throat. He can't possible apologize, he doesn't know how. What he can do, is reach for the olive branch. He glances up quickly and sees the stiff set of Liam’s shoulders, the way he’s carefully not looking back at them. "I'll take that room, if it's still on offer." 

He keeps his heartbeat even, he watches the way he pronounces the words, softly, hesitating only slightly and in the correct place to suggest indecision, rather than deceit. Corey blinks, surprised, but then smiles at him, easily.

"Sure."

Mason and Liam have turned, too, Mason looking hopeful, while Liam's smile is so bright Theo has to look away. He's a good liar, but he doesn't know if he can withstand the full implication of Liam's obvious relief, right now.

"That's still a no on letting you in for free, by the way," he tells Mason.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Theo and Liam watch as Mason takes five minutes and something like forty complete turns of the steering wheel to maneuver out of his parking spot.

"I counted 37," Liam tells him.

"36. He stopped and resumed at some point," Theo says. "Still only counts as one."

There's a whir as the electric window comes down and then Mason's hand pokes out, flipping them the bird. "Date night, losers." 

The send off would have probably worked better if snails couldn't currently overtake him right now.

"At that speed, date night is going to happen in a retirement home."

"He's usually much better," Liam tells him, "but that's his mom's car and he's terrified he's going to crash it in some horrible way."

Theo glances at him and finds him staring back, hands in his pockets, grinning at him. "Looks like you're walking home, Dunbar."

"I hope not, to be honest," Liam squints at the dark gray clouds in the distance, to the west. "Looks like it's going to rain."

Then, he draws his left hand out, fast as lighting and tosses something at him. Theo's fingers close around it reflectively and it takes him a moment to realize that he's holding something familiar both in shape and weight. He opens his palm and finds himself staring at the keys to his truck.

"What?"

Liam doesn't say anything. With a grin, he grabs his shoulders and turns him around, then he gestures for him to proceed back in the direction of the Station. Two quick steps take him to Theo's side, and then there's the warm pressure of a hand on his shoulder blade, steering him around the back.

At the sight of his truck, parked next to two police cruisers, Theo comes to an abrupt halt, causing Liam to stumble against him. There are still some dents and scratches on the hood, but the windshield has been replaced completely.

"What is this?" he asks, flatly.

Liam's hand drops from his back, but they're still stand close enough that his arm bumps into Theo's when he shrugs. "Thank you gift, from my parents. And me," he takes a step back and starts digging through his pockets. A moment later, he comes up with what looks like a business card with something scribbled on it. "The hood still needs some work done, but I figured you'd want it back as soon as possible. This guy will take care of it. It's all paid."

Theo takes the card dumbly and shoves it absentmindedly in the front pocket of his jeans. He walks to the truck, inspects the new windshield. The locks open without a hitch and when he opens the door his nose is overwhelmed by the pungent smell of cleaning products. He coughs and takes a step back.

"Yeah, sorry." Liam grimaces in sympathy. For him, the smell must be even more unbearable. "I couldn't take it to the shop with all that blood on the seats."

" _ You _ cleaned it?"

"Well, it's not like I went to school this morning anyway..."

Theo looks from the truck to Liam scuffing the toe of his shoes on the tarmac, hands sunk deeply in his pocket. He swallows and looks back at the truck. "I don’t know what to say," he admits, finally.

Liam gives him an exaggerated eye roll. "Just say thanks, you idiot." He shakes his head and then jogs around the truck. There's the sound of the passenger door creaking open and then Liam props himself up one the car roof, with one arm. "And then give me a ride to Scott's place so I don't have to walk in the rain."

"Thank you," he says, honestly. His voice is a rougher than he would have liked, scratching at the back of his throat, but he's having a hard time keeping his heartbeat under control, so he takes it.

Liam blushes and looks down. His fingers tap a nervous rhythm on the metal. "And you know...sorry for that whole outing you as the homeless kid thing. I seriously thought everybody knew."

"No one really pays attention to me these days, Liam." 

'Except you' goes unsaid, but seen as Liam's just given his freedom back to him - for the second time - Theo figures he'll allow him this kindness, in case he hasn't realized.

"Well, I do!" Liam flushes and then disappears from view. The car door slamming a second later shakes the whole truck.

As Theo gets behind the wheel, he wonders if he can get the guy to check the door hinges at no additional cost. He glances at Liam, but he's resolutely staring out the window. He doesn't seem in the talking mood, so Theo allows him a second kindness and keeps from commenting.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

As they're driving along the wood, Liam breaks the silence with a curse.

Theo slams on the brakes and scans the trees, senses alert. It would really be the cherry on top of this hunter crap cake, if something else dangerous and supernatural were to creep up now and wipe the floor with them.

It takes a moment for Theo to cotton on the fact that Liam's silence has changed from tense to embarrassed.

He turns slowly. Liam gives him a sheepish look, lips pressed in a thin line. "I left the bag with Ms. Jones's stuff in Mason's car." He raises his eyebrows, eyes going wide.

Theo stares at him.

Behind them, a car honks.

 

 

* * *

  
  


 

Now Theo's got his truck back and the open road. Either Liam or his parents have filled his tank, and though he won't go far with only 15 bucks in his pocket, he can certainly put enough distance between himself and Beacon Hills. If he's lucky, enough distance that when he's eventually stranded, he'll be too far away to be tempted to go back.

He only needs to help Liam get rid of the hunters, once and for all, so that wherever Theo might end afterwards, he won't have to worry about him being safe.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

He sends off a text to Corey, assuring him that he'll get in touch for the spare room situation and then lies down on the back seat.

It's as cramped and uncomfortable as he remembers and despite airing it for the whole day, the cleaning product smell still lingers. Despite all that, he falls asleep within minutes.


	13. Black magic woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can plan for hunters, but you can’t plan for magic. Or a crossbow bolt to the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long one.

Liam can't say he's overly enthusiastic at the prospect, but since his own house is still a crime scene, Mason's place is a werewolf-free zone, Corey's too small and Scott's place has Alec, whose involvement he wants to keep to a minimum, there's not much choice in terms of headquarters.

Also, he still has the bag of stolen trinkets to give back.

Lori texts him back with an affirmative not even ten seconds after he's sent the question and forty minutes later, Liam, Mason, Corey and Theo are crowding Ms. Jones's entrance hallway.

"Hannah isn't here," Lori tells them, taking their coats and showing them into the living room. "I don't know when she'll be back."

That's totally fine for Liam, in fact if they miss her and her unsettling, intense eyes completely, that would be even more fine for him. He really wants to solve this situation without anyone dying, Pack  _ or  _ hunters.

He asks for the toilet and finds himself on the receiving end of four unimpressed looks, so in the end he justs excuses himself meekly and beats a hasty retreat, taking the steps to the upper floor two by two. He makes a beeline for the room he remembers being the bedroom, but stops right on the threshold.

It's strange how he feels more of an intruder now than when he was actually one. The bedroom looks a little different in the light of day, but mostly it's the knowledge now coloring Liam's perception of it. The bed is made and tidy, but it's clear by the slight indentation that only one person sleeps in it and that it's someone who's not used to sleep alone, someone who has a side of the bed. There are no pictures on the walls or furniture, except for the frame on the nightstand, now turned face down.

The latch on the window has been replaced and there's now a dark line of mountain ash on the window sill. None protecting the threshold of the bedroom, however. Then again, Ms. Jones is currently living with a werewolf.

Liam steps over the threshold and reaches into his hoodie pocket for the bag — a new, clean one — with Ms. Jones possessions. He tears it open and spreads the content on top of the dresser. Halfway through, he hears Lori come up and stop to observe his progress. He balls up the shredded bag and shoves it back in his pocket, stepping back to observe the result.

Everything is neatly laid out, with the necklace with the pack symbol as a centerpiece.

"She was out to pick me up, that night," Lori says. "When we came home and she saw what happened..." Liam stares down at his shoes, cheeks burning in shame. "I smelled your scent and I couldn't believe—"

The bed, the picture frame and the scattered trinkets feel like a picture with one half missing, ripped off and leaving only a frayed edge behind. The air suddenly feels heavy in his lungs and he leaves the room, hurriedly closing the door behind him. He's now standing in front of Lori, in the middle of the hallway. Neither is looking at the other, however.

"She was asking weird questions at school," Liam says softly. "We thought she was a hunter."

"You did what you had to do, I get it."  She nods. "Last month, I woke up one morning and my first thought was that I had do finish my homeworks before Brett's match." She's shaking and her eyes are wet when she looks up at him, but the tears don't fall. It's anger, he realizes, that's coloring her scent, and not sadness. "I want to have homeworks. I want to watch Brett play and be kind of a dick. I want to kill them all, I want— I want to cry and have Brett tell me that everything will be alright."

He draws her in, one arm around her shoulders, the other hand pushing her head to his shoulder. She goes willingly, letting herself be hugged but not reciprocating. She's still shaking against him, yet the tears don't fall.

"I tell myself that Satomi wouldn't approve," she whispers against his shoulder, "but Satomi's dead, what does she know now?"

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Theo looks curiously at them when they come back down. Liam sees his nostrils flare slightly and knows he's smelling their scent on each other. His brow furrows, but Liam shakes his head and mouths 'later' at him. Theo's brow furrows even further in confusion. Liam rolls his eyes at him and lets himself fall on the sofa, next to Corey. Lori takes the armchair and Theo remains standing, though he gets closer, leaning against the windowsill.

Mason stands in the middle of the living room, phone in one hand and notepad in the other. "Okay, I can't stress this enough," he's broken out his class presentation gestures, authoritative finger pointing and all, so Liam knows this is pretty important, "when in the tunnels, turn on your GPSes and use Endomondo or something to track your path." He lowers his phone and shakes the notepad. "If there's no signal, take notes!"

He's looking straight at Liam when he says it, eyes narrowed. Just because Liam has a history of spotty note-taking and usually needs to rely on Mason for his last minute studying—

Mason gives a jolt as the phone starts vibrating in his hand. He stares at the caller ID in horror. "Oh, man." He swallows. "I forgot I was supposed to help Alec with chemistry."

He remains frozen like that, until the call ends. Ten seconds later, Liam's own phone blares from his jeans pocket. It's a pretty sure guess, but he still takes it out to check and indeed it's Alec calling him. "What do I do?"

"Answer him!" Corey says.

Mason looks at him in horror. "Don't answer him!"

Liam waves his hand to shush them and answers the phone. "Hello, Alec!" he says loudly, walking backwards to towards the kitchen. He gives Mason a thumb up. "How are you?"

There's a moment of hesitation before Alec speaks. "You know where Mason is?" he asks. "He was supposed to tutor me in chemistry, but he's not at his place and his mom told me he's with you?"

"Ah, no! He's not!" Mason is waving his arms around and signing incomprehensible things at him. “I’m not with him. He’s not here.”

“...why are you talking like this?”

He winches. “Like what?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m—ah, I’m…” he catches Theo’s incredulous look. “I’m at Theo’s place”

He can practically hear Alec’s eyeroll over the phone. “He lives in his truck, Liam,” he huffs as if Liam weren’t the only one who actually noticed. “Where are you  _ really _ ?”

Liam sighs and tells him.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

It takes only half an hour for both Alec  _ and _ Nolan to get there.

“We’re going to split into groups,” Liam says, having taken Mason's place at the center of the room. “Theo and I will take the tunnel into which the last hunter disappeared yesterday,” he points at Mason and Corey, “you guys take tunnel Number 2 as it’s the most exposed and you can get in while invisible.” He turns to Nolan and Alec. “You two have the old Gerard’s warehouse as Nolan’s been there already and knows his way around.” Liam makes an effort to keep his heartbeat calm and his voice even. While he’s not technically lying, he’s not being completely forward, either. “We need to know if they’re backtracking on their old haunts.”

He sees Corey and Mason exchange a look out of the corner of his eye, but Alec and Nolan don’t seem to notice and nod. According to the Sheriff, the warehouse has been abandoned ever since the summer, but they don’t have to know that.

“Lori,” he turns to her at last, unsure on how to tell her. What happened upstairs earlier has only strengthen his resolve to keep her out of the action as much as he can, but he’s not sure she’ll take it without protesting. “My parents…” he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “They’re at Scott’s place, I want you to go there and protect them. Just in case.”

She frowns. “So I’m babysitting?”

“I don’t want you to come face to face with the hunters,” he tells her. He might not be her Alpha — or anybody’s Alpha for that matter — but Scott’s left him in charge and he can’t let him down. “You know why.”

“You don’t have to protect me,” she says. Her tone is calm, but there’s a sense of tension underneath. Something brewing that might spill over.

“I’m not protecting you.”

Lori narrows her eyes, but just then there’s the sound of a car rumbling to a stop, a car door opening and closing, then steps getting closer.

“I love it when you guys go all ‘squirrell’,” Mason’s voice breaks his concentration, and he glances around to see that indeed everyone except Mason himself and Nolan have turned to stare at the door.

The front door opens and then Ms. Jones is standing in the hallway, staring at them. Liam belatedly realizes that Lori hasn't specified whether she's told her the house was going to to be invaded by Beacon Hills resident B-listers Pack. Ms. Jones doesn't seem fazed, though. She takes off her coat and slings it on her arm. 

"I hope I have enough mugs for everyone," she says.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

She doesn't have enough mugs, they discover. Liam and Lori are helping her dig out assorted glasses and mugs from the cupboards, while she boils enough water for everyone. 

"I thought tea was a thing only English people did," he mutters to Lori and then blushes instantly when he hears the chuckle.

Ms. Jones arches an eyebrow at him. "I spent some time in Europe, they're mad for tea over there."

"I mean, I like tea!" Liam rushes to add. 

Theo comes in from the living room, hands in his pockets. He seems to take in the scene with an air of vague disbelief, before making his way to Liam's side and leaning close to whisper in his ear. He's so close, Liam feels his breath on the small hairs of his neck. "I thought we were setting out?" he says. "Why are you making tea?"

Liam's making tea because when Ms. Jones came back downstairs he noticed the leather string of the Triple Moon pendant. Because she's given him a long look and told him to help her make tea. Lori is also making tea because Liam's not sure he wants to be alone with Ms. Jones when she says whatever she wants to say to him. To Theo he only says, "we're her guests, it's polite."

Theo draws back and just stares.

"Theo, right?" Ms. Jones says, in what Liam supposes is her teacher voice.

They jolt up and look away from each other. He doesn't know about Theo, but Liam does feel much like a kid being caught disturbing class. Next to him, Theo nods without saying anything.

"I've been told you're a werewolf who's strangely immune to mountain ash."

Everyone freezes. The living room has gone suspiciously silent too, except for Mason's quiet 'you've gone squirrell again'. Liam supposes it's one of this situations when people say 'you could hear a pin drop', except he probably couldn't hear a fighter jet passing two feet away right now, not with Theo's heartbeat so loud in his ears, so loud and quick that it sounds seconds away from a heart attack.

Lori almost topples one of the mugs and the sound it makes when it hits the serving tray causes Liam to jolt out of his trance-like state. Lori curses under her breath and wipes the spilled tea with her palm. "I'll take these to the guys!" she says, a bit too loudly.

Ms. Jones hasn't taken her eyes off Theo, though, and Liam has the sudden urge to step in front of him. "Except you're not a werewolf, are you?"

He'll probably be made fun of later, by Theo most likely, for being a meddling, overprotective Alpha-wannabe, but that was undeniably creepy and Liam steps in front of Theo, breaking her line of sight. Ms. Jones blinks. She shakes her head and relaxes her features in a warm smile, then she chuckles softly and some tension bleeds out of Liam's body. He doesn't move, though.

"I'm sorry, that was a bit too ominous," she admits. "What I meant was, you're one of those Chimeras I heard about?"

Theo moves so that they're standing side to side now, and shoots a look at Liam. Liam shakes his head no, that he's certainly not the one going around spilling Theo's secrets. Except for that homeless thing. And arguably the mushroom soup thing. 

"You seem to know a lot of things for someone who's been here for a few months," Theo says, finally.

She puts the boiler down, carefully, and leans back against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. "You know werewolf Packs," she shrugs. "It's a small world."

"Not my scene," Theo says and with a last glance at Liam, he turns to leave. "I'll wait in the truck."

Liam watches him grab his jacket from the coat hanger and then disappear beyond the limited view offered by the kitchen doorway. The front door opens and then closes shut.

He could've at least taken the other tray into the living room.

Ms. Jones snorts. "Charming." 

"He is when he wants to be," Liam blurts out. He considers it. It's true, Theo is charming when he's lying and being manipulating. Like when flirting with random deputies who shouldn't be lusting after kids ten years their junior in the first place, anyway. He scowls. "Mostly, he's an asshole," he concludes. That’s fine, though, that’s what Liam is comfortable with. It means Theo’s being honest.

Lori hasn't come back from the living room for the other tray, and only now Liam realizes that he's been deserted, alone with Ms. Jones in the kitchen. Being the leader is a lonely job, he supposes. He grabs the remaining mugs and the sugar bowl and arranges them on the tray.

He hesitates for only a moment. "I'm sorry for breaking in," he says then. He looks up at her, grimacing. "And, you know, stealing your things."

Her hand comes up to touch the pendant, under her shirt. Her features soften minutely, as she stares off, looking at Liam, but not seeing him. "Apology accepted."

"I have a favor to ask."

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

"You sent her with Lori?"

Liam, Corey and Mason have all piled up in Theo's truck. The cover story is that Mason's forgotten the cattle prod at his place and since their assignments are close to each other anyway, Theo's going to drive him and Corey there. Every successful lie has a grain of truth in it, according to Theo, and in this case it's more that the truth has a grain of the lie in it, because Mason really has forgotten the cattle prod at home and they need to get it before his parents accidentally find it and come up with uncomfortable questions.  _ More  _ uncomfortable questions.

Liam's shrug is hampered by the seat belt, so he just falls back onto the seat with a sigh. "I told her that my parents would probably feel more at ease if a human was there as well as a werewolf."

"And she believed you." Theo's tone leaves the words suspended between a statement and a question.

"I'm just..." he curls sideways, into the car door, as much as the belt lets him. "I'm trying to keep everyone safe."

Mason pokes his head in the space between the seats and pats his shoulder. "Scott would have never left you in charge if he wasn’t sure you could do it," he says.

Theo slaps at Mason's face in effort to push him back, but he manages to duck and weave under them. "Put your seatbelt on," Theo growls. "And keep to the backseat."

"Wow, who knew you were such a mom."

The car brakes suddenly and Mason jerks forward, barely managing to hang onto the passenger seat before he ends with his face smashed in the dashboard.

Theo doesn’t seem to care that he’s now on the receiving end of three heated glares and just arches an eyebrow at Mason.

There's a long moment of silence, then Mason slowly retreats. There's the sharp click of the seatbelt being buckled. Theo gives a satisfied hum and goes back to driving.

Mason's head pokes up again, this time barely peeking around Liam's seat. "As I was saying, don't worry too much," another pat on his upper arm. "And come on, what are a few hunters?  You rode into the Wild Hunt, you fought a hellhound and won!"

Liam shakes his head, but finds a smile tugging at a corners of his mouth. "Thanks for the support, man."

Mason makes a pensive sound. " Though that might mean you're more reckless than capable now that I think about it."

He twists around and glares at him. "I keep forgetting to audition for that new best friend position."

As he turns back forward, he catches Theo looking at him. "You fought a hellhound."

"He  _ won _ against a hellhound," pipes up Mason from the backseat.

"Impressive." 

Liam's heard the tone in his voice before. In fact, he's seen Theo look like that before. With the raised raised eyebrows and the honest wonder. The words are almost the same as when Liam explained about Mykonos and his plan, too. 

"It's green," Corey says.

Theo blinks and looks away.

Well, shit.

This stupid thing unfurling in Liam's chest is supposed to be one of those passing, unrequited crushes, but across from him, there's an unmistakable, though faint, blush on Theo's cheeks.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

In theory, Liam's planning is sound. The 'veterans' take care of the threat, while Alec and Nolan are off on a pointless and safe surveillance mission and Lori and Ms. Jones are kept from accidentally killing people.

In practice, Liam suddenly recalls the last time he's been in the tunnels is the night Brett died.

He wolfs out as soon as the opening comes in sight. The low rumble of a growl tears out of his throat and he finds himself unable to take another step, feet planted and heavy, as if they had suddenly taken root.

"Liam?"

Theo steps into view, the dark blue of his jacket blending with the darkness of the tunnel at his back. Even in the afternoon light, he looks pale and there's a faint tension tightening around his shoulders when he glances back at the entrance. It probably shouldn't feel this comforting that Theo is visibly nervous too. He has a flash of Theo's frantic, panicked cries when he was being dragged into the ground. He remembers thinking at the time that it was the only honest emotion Theo had showed them. 

Seeing him now, standing with him, is like seeing a whole another person. Theo's undoubtedly changed, Liam isn't the best judge of character, but he's pretty sure he wouldn't feel whatever he's feeling if Theo were still the old Theo.

"That night..." he swallows around the lump in his throat choking him and tries again, clearer this time. "When Brett—They led us on a merry chase and we played right into their hands." 

They probably know the complete layout of the tunnels and though Mason's effort in mapping them is commendable, he wonders if it's not too little too late, now. "Who's to say it won't happen again?" He tears his eyes away from the darkness and stares at Theo. "What if I'm walking us straight into a trap? Again."

"Argent is dead and it looks like he was the brain of the whole operation."

Liam shakes his head. "Monroe seemed to take after him. She vanished after that night, maybe she's still here."

Theo looks away and growls under his breath. His arms twitching against his sides, he darts his eyes around, nervously. "Look, I'm trying to be reassuring here."

"Yeah, I can tell." Liam gives him twin thumbs up

He earns a glare back. "Fuck off, Dunbar." Theo suddenly doesn't look all that nervous anymore.  "Just punch me or something and let's move on."

"Why would I want to punch you?"

"Beats me, it just seems to calm you down and we need to get this done before the teacher and the junior members realize they've been benched."

Liam frowns. "I'm not going to punch you," he says. Theo gives him a skeptical look. "I promise I won't punch you." Theo arches an eyebrow and the skepticism takes a decidedly mocking turn.

Liam punches him in the arm.

It's not that hard, though, so it totally doesn't count. 

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

 

"Why the tunnels, though?" 

Liam's aware he's dangerously close to whining, but it's a legitimate question. Everything always revolves around the preserve, the school or the tunnels. Beacon Hills resident Alpha werewolf used to attend the school and the preserve has the Nemeton, though, so those are somewhat justifiable. 

Theo snorts from up ahead. "Quit your whining."

"I'm just saying," he mumbles and trudges after him. "It's an awful coincidence that we always—hey, did you hear that?"

That turns out to be a rat, running scared and apparently willing to face two supernaturals in its escape from whatever it is that terrifies it so much.

Liam stares dumbfoundead at the rat scurries along the wall, as far away as it can from him. It comes from the direction of the entrance, though, and they just came from there, there's no way—

Liam twists around just in time to see the vague silhouette of a person, before there's a weird whooshing sound and he's hit in the face with a net, of all things. It takes only a split second before he realizes that it's not a normal net, however. It feels heavy, so heavy that he crashes to the ground, face down in the muck and disgusting smells that don't really bear thinking about. The weight bearing down on his back is so heavy - supernaturally so - that he's got trouble breathing. He recognizes the feeling when the material of the net comes in contact with his bare skin.

Mountain ash.

He hears Theo yell his name and his steps hurrying closer, but they falter to a stop as soon as the net thrower speaks.

"I wouldn't take another step, if I were you." Ms. Jones says, stepping closer. Liam can barely move his head, but he can see the shape of a familiar crossbow in her hands.

There's no way she caught them by surprise, but somehow her steps make no sound and she has no scent that he can smell.

"How..." he wheezes and gasps.

"I've lived half my life with werewolves, I know how to hide from them." She tilts her head and looks away from Liam and presumably to Theo, then she goes on, "I wasn't sure it'd work, but it seems you count as a werewolf for this one."

"You're an emissary." At Theo's words, she tilts her head in acknowledgement.

Liam struggles to move his left arm under him. He tries twisting his body around, but to almost no avail. It's not much progress, but it's progress. "What are you  _ doing?!"  _ he coughs.

"If there's a way to make my Pack immune to mountain ash, I need it."

Why are people so eager at the prospect of trying some mad doctors' experiments on their own skin? While desperation is certainly a possible explanation, the dudes were called Dread Doctors, for god's sake! If their names were Very Competent Doctors or even just the Doctors, it'd be at least understandable. Maybe being evil makes you crazy as well. Some of Theo's actions were certainly crazy when he was evil. Not to mention the hunters thinking it'd be a good idea to freaking lay siege to the Sheriff's Station.

"The research is gone." Liam's right arm is now under him. He gives himself a moment to gather his breath. "We burned it and Theo got rid of what was left." 

Ms. Jones's fingers twitch on the crossbow. The bolt is pointed at him and likely still coated with wolfsbane. "There must be something I can use," she frowns. She's speaking softly, almost to herself.

Liam is about to repeat that no, there really is nothing left, when Theo gets there before him. Except that's not what he says.

"There might be something left," Theo says, and though his heart is racing from the tension, there's no discernable jolt in the rhythm that would call out the lie. 

The words strike like a blow, leaving Liam's head ringing and making him choke in a way that has nothing to do with the mountain ash.

"What? Theo?"

Ms. Jones gestures with her crossbow. "Great, make way."

"I'm not leaving Liam trapped here, hunters might come by."

She settles back and the crossbow swings to point at Liam's again. "I'm not letting him go until have what I came for."

"I can tell you how to get it."

First things first. Liam is going to get rid of this fucking net and Ms. Jones with the crossbow.  _ Then  _ he's going to punch Theo so hard his perfect cheekbones will end up on the back of his head and then he's going to make Theo gather every single scrap of research left and make him burn it.

"And risk you sending me on a wild goose chase?" Ms. Jones snorts. "No."

Liam manages to move his legs enough so that his knee can take his full weight.

He hears Theo take a step closer and he sees one of his tennis shoes out of the corner of his eye. "Then it looks like we're at an impasse."

Liam plants his hands and braces his knees and pushes against the ground. The pressure is enormous and it feels like his muscles are going to give out. He roars, fangs out and claws raking through the mud and the dirt and pushes up again, managing to get to lift off the ground enough to turn around and start crawling towards Theo.

"As impressive as that is," Ms. Jones says, "don’t move. I don’t want to have to hurt you."

Liam snarls and pushes forward. When he looks up, the panic on Theo's face looks real enough, but then again, he's been fooled when Theo said there was nothing left of the Dread Doctors' research.

"Liam, stop! No, don’t! Plea—!" 

Theo surges forward just as burning pain lances through the back of Liam's left thigh. He crumples to the ground with a broken cry as the hot bar of the crossbow bolt pulses in his leg. It’s a pain worse than anything he’s ever felt before and he’s been hurt pretty badly ever since he turned into a werewolf. 

He tries to move to relieve some of the pressure on his injured leg, but the net is keeping him anchored to the ground and he doesn’t have the strength to attempt crawling again. 

“Liam!” Theo’s pale, worried face appears into his limited field of view. All he can do in reply is whine pitifully. 

“Not one inch closer,” Ms. Jones says. There’s a clatter as she drops the crossbow to the ground. Theo growls and bares his fangs at her, eyes flashing yellow. “You might be faster than me, but you’re not faster than a bullet.”

Her voice is much closer now, but whatever she’s used to mask herself to them must still be in place, because Liam hasn’t heard her move, not even the faintest rustle of clothes. He feels the cold metal at the back of his neck, though, and her hand pressing down on the wound on his leg to staunch the bleeding.

He gasps and tries to move it away, but he’s too weak.

“It didn’t have to come to this,” she says softly, almost gentle. “I’m sorry, Liam.” 

“I’m—” he coughs and shudders. “I’m reporting you to the school board.”

She gives a startled chuckle. “You do that,” the muzzle of the gun taps against his neck. Despite the deadline, the cold of the metal is a welcome relief on his feverish hot skin. “The bolt is coated with wolfsbane. Not enough to kill him outright, but you should probably hurry.”

Theo gives him a lingering look and Liam watches his irises bleed from bright yellow back to their human stormy blue. Then Theo gets up and starts walking backwards slowly, keeping his hands up, palms forward, fingers spread wide.

“Ah, and leave your phone here.”

Theo glares at her and reaches for his back pocket. He shows her his phone and presses the power button. A black screen with a red depleted battery flashes a couple of times and then goes dark again.

Of all the times to forget to charge his phone...

“Remember when the battery on those things lasted for weeks?” Ms. Jones snorts. “Or maybe you’re too young. Well? What are you waiting for?”

Theo turns on his heels and runs off into the darkness of the tunnels.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

The pain fades into a diffused numbness that should probably worry him if it weren’t so hard to think right now. He’s alternating between feeling too hot and shivering with cold. A hand gently brushes his hair back from where it’s plastered on his forehead.

“I hope you can forgive me,” a voice says, above him, around him, so far away. “I’m sure you’d understand if you were in my shoes.”

For a moment he thinks it might be his mom, but she sounds so sad. His mother has never sounded so sad.

He tries telling her that everything is going to be alright, but he’s so tired. He’ll just close his eyes for a moment and then—

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

 

He wakes to shouting and lights.

His head hurts and he can’t move, he tries too and fire burns in his thigh and he thinks he cries out.

“—your gun!”

“Police! Drop it!”

The weight is suddenly pulled off and Liam feels like he’s taking the first breath in years. He gasps, lungs finally expanding fully. Hands are supporting him around his shoulders and pulling him to a sitting position. Somebody is saying his name but god, his leg hurts so much, he reaches blindly for it.

“No, leave it,” Theo says, just as his fingers close around the shaft of the crossbow bolt. “Liam, no, don’t—”

He pulls with all his newly returned strength. The pain is so intense he blacks out for a split second.

“Goddammit, Liam!”

“Jesus, kid.”

He recognizes the Sheriff’s voice and another set of hands grabs for him, to help him wobble and limp to the side of the tunnel, where he can lean against the wall.

“That hurt,” Liam says, staring down at his ruined jeans and frankly ruined leg.

“No shit,” Theo snorts. “You crazy idiot.” 

“Next time you get shot with the wolfsbane crossbow, see how you like it.”

Claws out,Theo rips his trousers from mid thigh to just below his knee. He does it quickly, but miraculously doesn’t injure him further. He looks up at Liam with a grimace, “we have to burn it out.”

“You kids are mad,” the Sheriff mutters, but he hands a lighter to Theo. “I’ll call Parrish over.”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

The revolting smell of burnt human skin and hair still lingers in Liam nose, but Theo’s managed to burn all the wolfsbane out and he’s getting better by the second.

Ms. Jones has been taken away by two deputies and now it’s only Parrish and the Sheriff himself in the tunnel with them. He gladly accepts the bottle of water Parrish offers him and drains it without coming back for air.

He tosses the crumpled bottle to Parrish and then slaps Theo’s chest with the back of his hand. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Theo snorts. 

“We have to finish what we came for, come on.”

Theo gives him an incredulous stare. “No, we don’t. I’m taking you home,” he reaches out and grabs his arm, giving a slight tug in the direction of the exit. 

Liam plants his feet and glares at him. “I’m not going to Scott’s.”

“Actually, he does mean your home,” Sheriff Stilinski interjects. “We cleared out of your place. Your parents went back after lunch, I’m told it was supposed to be a surprise.”

“The plan—”

“When I came back, I thought I was too late.” Theo says it quietly, his voice even and void of all emotion, as if he were talking about the weather. His face is ghostly pale when Liam looks at him, though, and there’s a slight tremor in the fingers gripping his arm.

“Go home and rest, kid.”

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

Liam watches as the scenery whizzes by the window. The glass is nice and cold under his still warm forehead. 

In the end taking him home isn’t the worst idea Theo’s ever had. After the adrenaline rush of burning the wolfsbane away from his wound, he’s exhausted. He’s seen the amount of blood that was left on the ground and it’s likely it’s the closest he’s ever come to actually dying, except maybe for that time with Gabe in the hospital.

If Theo hadn’t called—

He frowns. “How did the Sheriff find us?”

“I called them.”

“I thought your phone was dead.”

Theo smirks at him, then he reaches into his coat pocket and takes out a sleek black rectangle with a cable dangling from it. “I got a power bank.”

Liam can’t help but laugh out loud. Theo’s grin turns to a toothy grin that wrinkles his nose so adorably that Liam has to look away before he says something stupid.

He closes his eyes and leans back against the seat. “Were you lying to her?” he asks, then.

Theo is silent for a long time, which doesn’t bode well. 

“I was honest the whole time,” he finally replies and he sounds indeed honest. There’s no jump in his heartbeat and no deception coloring his voice.

Liam nods and taps a nervous rhythm on the hard plastic of the door handle. He sighs. “So there really is stuff left over from the Dread Doctors?”

“I guess.” 

When he glances at him, Theo is looking straight forward, shoulders tense. “When Scott asked you said you got rid of everything.”

Theo hums in acknowledgement. “Somehow, I don’t think Mason would be happy with either of us if I got rid of Corey. And you know,” he shoots Liam a glance, “there’s me.”

Liam feels his jaw drop. Theo shoots him another look and then starts laughing heartily. It’s such a foreign sound that for a moment Liam fails to actually associate it with laughter.

“You’re such an asshole!” He slaps at Theo’s shoulder, his chest. He was so fucking  _ worried _ . “Oh my god!”

“Driving here!” Theo pushes his hand away, but he’s still chuckling and Liam finds it contagious and echoes him.

The chuckles eventually fade off into a comfortable silence. 

Liam stretches his arms and lets his left hand fall on Theo’s headrest. Theo shoots him a look out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t say anything. Time to test a theory. 

He lets his hands fall until it comes to rest at the back of Theo’s neck, on the collar of his shirt, his thumb barely brushing the skin. Theo tenses instantly, but still he doesn’t say anything, nor does he shrug the hand off.

“Theo?”

“Yeah?” Theo’s voice is barely above a whisper.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” Theo croaks. “Anytime.”

Liam grins and squeezes slightly before letting his hand fall away.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

“Aren’t you going to go inside?”

Liam looks at his house. There’s tarp covering the window out of which he threw the hunter out. He looks down at his torn and bloody jeans.

“You know what, I’m good.”

Theo reaches over to open the passenger car door and Liam is so nervous about seeing his parents and being alone with them that he can’t even fully enjoy having him draped all over lap like this.

“Go talk to your parents, Dunbar.”

Liam slams the door shut again.

“And where are you going?” Liam narrows his eyes at him. Back in his seat, Theo shrugs nonchalantly while staring out of the window. “I know you said you were going to sleep at Corey’s, but your truck smells like you’ve been sleeping in here again.”

Theo taps a finger against his lips and still won’t turn to face him. “Talk to your parents.”

“Tell you what, I’ll talk to my parents,” he tells Theo, “if you crash here for the night.”

“Liam—”

Liam checks his phone for the time. He also finds a text from Mason with an update on their end that he’ll have to read later. “The talk will probably take a while, but you can wait in my room.”

“I don’t think—”

He makes the unilateral decision to ignore him, because it seems Theo can’t be trusted to take care of himself. “I trust you can break into my window without causing any lasting damage?”

Theo gives him a long look. “You mean, am I a clumsy idiot like you?”

“You were the one who couldn’t find the stupid blade—” he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “You know what, conversation closed.” He reaches in his front pocket and takes out his Swiss knife. He takes Theo’s right wrist, turns his hand and slaps it into his palm, then closes his fingers around it. 

He’s out the truck before Theo can reply.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Being finally in a room alone with his parents after the werewolf is out of the bag so to speak is as tense as he’s imagined it to be. They just sit in silence for several minutes.

And then Liam starts to talk. Melissa has explained in broad terms, so he goes deeper. He tells them about the wendigo, the roof and Scott biting him. He tells them about how his IED influenced the shift. He tells them about the Beast. He tells them about the Dread Doctors and Hayden and Theo. He tells them about almost killing Scott.

Halfway through, Liam’s senses pick up the sound of his window opening and then soft footfalls, a familiar heartbeat coming from the direction of his room upstairs. It feels like a weight has been lifted, like something he’s been bracing for suddenly came to pass and the tension leaves his body.

He talks about helping the people of Beacon Hills and solving supernatural problems. He tells them about saving Mason, and the Wild Hunt and saving the entire town. He tells them about the hunters and the hospital.

He tells them about what it means to be in a Pack.

“It’s something like a family, you know,” he struggles to find the right words. “Scott left me in charge, so I’m responsible for all of them. I know they can take care of themselve, but I still get worried…” he trails off and looks up to find his parents staring at him with raised eyebrows and twin deadpan looks. “ _ Fine _ . I guess you know the feeling.”

They both laugh and Liam goes to them, cradling them and getting cradled in a three-way hug. They stay like that for a long time.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

When Liam finally gets to his room, he opens the door to find Theo sitting on his bed, elbow on his knees and hands hanging between his legs. His head shoots up and Liam gets the barest impression of a guilty look. 

The room looks as Liam remembers leaving it, though, so it doesn’t seem like Theo has anything to feel guilty about. The only thing out of place is the bundle of cloth carefully folded next to Theo’s thigh. 

“You could’ve made yourself comfortable and taken off your jacket at least.”

Theo makes a noncommittal sound and gets up. He grabs the folded bundle from the bed and hands it Liam. Now that he’s being offered it, Liam recognizes his own hoodie. 

“I kept meaning to give it back, but forgot,” Theo says.

Liam takes it from him and then before he can stop himself, he buries his nose in it and takes a deep breath. When he looks up at Theo he finds him staring at him with wide eyes, heart beating so loudly, Liam’s surprised his parents can’t hear it from the other room.

He stares straight into Theo’s eyes. “It smells like us.”

Theo’s eyes get impossibly wider and he sways back as if under an invisible push. He looks away and swallows audibly. The fingers raking through his hair have a slight tremble. 

“Fuck, Liam,” he sounds broken and defeated and utterly destroyed, but then he closes his eyes and hangs his head sideways and back, so that his neck is now a long, pale expanse of skin on display.

Liam takes the distance between them in two steps and buries his face in it. He breathes it Theo’s scent, trailing his lips in a barely there brush from the base of his neck to under his jaw and reveling in the full body shudder he causes. His arms go to encircle Theo at his waist, while Theo’s grab at his back, at his shoulders, hugging him back just as frantically.

“You still smell like blood.”

Liam draws back from the neck and rests his forehead against Theo’s. He can feel the shaky dance of Theo’s breath on his lips.

“I’m fine,” he whispers against his lips and then they’re kissing.

“You almost weren’t.” Theo says, but he kisses back.

  
  



	14. Swallowing the lie with a kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam tries, Theo freaks out in his Theo way and Mason _really_ likes maps.

 

Theo wakes up to the smell of sweat and dried blood. 

His face is smashed into a pillow and something pointy is poking him in the middle of his back. He twists around and that something turns out to be Liam's elbow. They've fallen asleep on top of the covers, still in their clothes from yesterday. He remembers Liam's fingers on his cheek, twitching with nervousness, and the taste of his lips as they kissed lazily until they fell asleep.

Liam is still in deep sleep, his breaths even, his lips parted slightly. Theo's so close he can feel the caress of every huff of air on his cheeks.

This shouldn't have happened, he knows. He's made up his mind about leaving and while he's not deluded enough that he thinks Liam's going to be heartbroken, it's bound to be confusing for him at the very least. Theo should nip whatever this is — a crush, infatuation — in the nub, before he does any more damage, leave now and pretend nothing's happened, if he were a better person. 

Last night, he's shivered with every kiss and every time Liam touched his skin, nerves tingling at each contact. He's heard the way Liam moans and grunts when things started to get heated, he's heard his own reaction when Liam tugged at his hair and bit his neck. He might not be actively evil anymore, but he's still enough of a selfish asshole to pursue this when he's the only one knowing it's got an expiration date.

Liam frowns in his sleep and his breathing changes. A moment later, he's blinking awake and staring at Theo with sleep-muddled eyes. 

Before his conscience can take the better of him, Theo leans forward and kisses him. Liam's got a bit of a morning breath and he's still waking up, but he gets his mouth in gear and starts kissing back soon enough. He pushes back when he feels fingers sneaking up the hem of his t-shirt. Liam whines in a way unbecoming of a Pack leader and follows him.

Theo lays a hand on his chest and halts his progress. "We have to go."

Liam splays a hand at the small of his back and pulls him forward. Even if Theo had half a mind of resisting, Liam's always going to win in a straight strength contest, so he just gives up and lets himself be dragged closer so that they're almost chest to chest, the only obstacle being Theo's arm that's now trapped between them. Liam wiggles even closer and there's a definite interest that's brushing against Theo's hip.

"Nah, let's stay," Liam whispers against his lips, then lets the tip of his tongue past Theo's lips. Theo groans and lets him, opening up to him. He grabs the collar of his hoodie with the hand trapped between their bodies and pulls him closer. Liam huffs against his lips and nudges his nose. "We haven't even done anything yet." His hand travels up Theo's back and then back down, fingers curled, feeling the bumps of his spine until they come to rest on his buttock, giving it a light squeeze.

"Who could resist such refined courtship techniques."

“Don’t tell me you like flowers,” Liam mumbles against his lips and then goes still. Theo feels him slowly relax until the arm encircling him becomes dead weight. 

Against his cheek, Theo feels a puff of air that sounds suspiciously like a soft snore.

“Did—Did you just go back to sleep?”

Liam mumbles something that could be ‘Sunday’ or ‘nothing’ or even ‘sundae’, then smacks his lips and curls closer to Theo.

He shoves him away and sits up. There’s a yelp and a flailing of limbs, a pillow goes flying and then Liam sits up up, blinking blearily at Theo, his hair a mess of spikes and looking like some small creature might have nested in it.

“‘M awake.”

“Good,” Theo bends over the side of the bed in search of his shoes. “I need to grab a change of clothes at the animal clinic and then I’ll meet you at Scott’s.”

“Or we could stay in bed.”

He puts on both shoes and then starts on the laces. He twists sideways to glance at Liam, who’s scratching his hair into even more of a mess and squinting at him. “What is it you always say?” He clears his voice and pitches his voice higher. “‘Scott left me in charge, I have to keep them safe’.”

“I don’t sound like that!”

A pillow hits Theo in the back of his neck and tumbles harmlessly to the ground. Done with his shoes, he stands up and smoothes down his t-shirt, then he sets off in search of his hoodie and coat. 

“We can drive together and save time?”

Theo gives him a long look. “You need a shower and a change of clothes too,” he says. “You stink.”

“Hey!”

“Liam look at yourself.” At that, Liam does indeed look down. His t-shirt isn’t too bad, hif hoodie having taken the brunt when it came to dirt and muck, but his jeans are a disgrace. Ripped and caked in blood and mud. 

Liam makes a face. “I see your point.” He looks up at him. “I’ll take a quick shower, wait for me?”

Theo really, really doesn’t want to spend not one, but two drives and potentially also the time a Deaton’s alone with Liam right, but it is a sensible way to spare time and refusing is going to call even more attention to the big gay elephant in the room.

He sighs. “I’ll wait for you in the truck. Hurry up.”

In a display of vitality unimaginable up till now, Liam springs up from the bed and going around the room like a whirlwind, he discards his dirty clothes and picks up clean ones and then vanishes, slamming the door behind him and leaving Theo to blink at the after image of himself wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

Theo shakes his head and focuses on his hearing. He hears the TV and the soft voices of Liam’s parents discussing the news downstairs, then the water being turned on and the sound of naked feet slapping on tiles.

He finds his coat tossed over the back of the chair, but his hoodie seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. It’s not too surprising, considering Liam’s room looks like a herd of drunk water buffalos just stampeded through it.

On the desk, he catches sight of the hoodie that got Theo in this whole mess last night. It’s folded neatly and therefore is suspiciously conspicuous in the midst of all the chaos surround it. 

It still smells like Theo now, though there’s a faint trace of Liam lingering. 

Theo’s only been using it for sleeping, so it’s relatively clean, and outside it’s getting to be quite chilly at night, when you’re sleeping in a truck.

He shrugs it on under his jacket and leaves through the window.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

 

Despite Liam’s reassurances that he was going to be quick, Theo has to wait more than forty minutes before the front door of the Geyer household opens and he comes running down the steps, holding something wrapped in tinfoil.

“Well, that took approximately a lifetime,” Theo says, gunning the engine and peeling away from the curb before Liam’s even had the chance to shut the door.

Theo doesn’t expect to be hit in the face by the tinfoil package. It’s warm and soft and smells vaguely of bacon and it falls into his lap.

“I was making you breakfast, you ungrateful dick.” Liam growls. “Bacon pancakes. I hope you choke on them.”

Theo stares at him and then at the pancakes in his lap. They are quite warm. When they stop at a red light, he grabs the packet and peels away the tinfoil, revealing a stack of soft if slightly overcooked pancakes topped with crispy bacon. His mouth waters instantly and his stomach growls loudly. 

He squeezes the stack of five pancakes so that it can fit into his mouth and wolfs everything down in three bites.

“Well, I was going to say we could stop for coffee on the way so you could have a proper breakfast, but I guess it’s a moot point now.”

Theo chews the last of the pancakes and swallows, then glances at him. “I can do coffee.”

“Are you wearing my hoodie?”

Theo’s head snaps back forward and look at that, the light’s just turned green. The tires screech and the truck jolts forward, sending Liam back into the seat with a yelp.

Theo balls up the still warm tinfoil one handed and tosses it at him without looking. “Thanks for breakfast.”

The ball gets tossed back at him a second later, but he jerks back and it hits the window and disappears down in the footwell. “You’re welcome.”

Liam manages to remain silent until they’re finally in the view of Deaton’s clinic, but his fidgeting in the seat speaks loudly enough for him. Theo slows the truck to a stop in the empty parking lot and turns off the engine. He undoes his seatbelt and turns to face Liam.

“Out with it.”

Liam runs his hand through his still damp hair and doesn’t look at him. It’s getting long and it’s curling at the back of his neck. “Are we going to talk about…” he trails off into silence.

Not if Theo can help it. “About what?”

Liam shoots him an annoyed glance, but he’s finally looking at him. “You know what.”

He snorts. “I don’t know, are we?” He leans back against the door, arms crossed over his chest and gestures for Liam to go on.

Liam opens his mouth, then clicks it shut. He shakes his head. “Why do you have to act like such an asshole all the time?” 

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe _ I actually am  _ an asshole all the time?”

Liam gives him one last look and then turns away from Theo. He leans his head back against the headrest and closes his eyes. It takes Theo an embarrassing amount of time to understand that he’s actually got what he wanted. Apparently the argument is closed and they’re not going to talk about it.

“Well? Aren’t you going to grab a change of clothes?” Liam snorts, but makes no move to leave the truck. “I’ll wait here.”

Theo reaches for the door handle, fingers curling around it, but then falling away. He hesitates with Liam’s name crowding behind his lips, followed by words he doesn’t know how and doesn’t want to voice. What the hell is he doing really, he should take the opening Liam’s just given him and leave, leave and never come back to this moment, to last night, to this morning.

Theo’s mouth is a treacherous bastard though and lets the words escape. Just one, really, but it’s enough to disrupt the silence. “Liam—”

Liam jerks as if hit and he turns and looks at him with an air of such desperate anger that whatever else his mouth planned to spout dies on Theo’s lips, forgotten. “What is this?” Liam gestures between them and then punches the back of his seat. “What are we doing?” Theo opens his mouth and then promptly shuts it when Liam points a threatening finger at him. “I swear,” he growls, “I swear if you answer with something idiotic I’m going to break your nose.”

It doesn’t sound too menacing considering it’s the two of them, to be honest, but Theo takes it with the spirit it’s intended and gives himself a moment to come up with something that won’t get him punched. 

“I didn’t even know you liked guys,” is what comes out of his mouth, instead.

Judging by the look on Liam’s face, he’s as surprised as Theo feels by it. He blinks a couple of times and shakes his head. “I mean. I like girls. A  _ lot _ ,” he snorts. “I never really liked any guys, despite whatever Mason says about...” His face suddenly clouds over and he trails off into silence.

“So what, you’re gay for me?”

That seems to shake Liam out of whatever dark mood has fallen over him. He slaps Theo’s arm. “Don’t be a dick about it,” he huffs. “Sexuality is fluid.”

“Thanks, Dr. Queer Theory.”

Liam rolls his eyes so theatrically it’s a wonder they don’t fall out of his head. He’s smiling, though. “It’s just, I was with Hayden and then...I wasn’t,” he shrugs. “I was a bit down for a bit, so I wasn’t really thinking about…” his eyes dart to Theo and then away, embarrassed, “... _ stuff _ and in any case I hadn't realized you were an option until very recently. I mean, you’ve always been...good looking,” here his cheeks redden slightly, but he still manages to look at Theo in the eye. “But you killed people and...but now, I don’t know. You smell different from before.”

The way he says it, the ‘hell’ is heavily implied. He knows that part of it came back with him, his sister, the nightmares, the ever present feeling of not being fully there, but this is the first time that he’s heard anyone address it.

“It sounds so stupid out loud,” Liam mutters. “It’s true though, you are different.”

“And what do I smell like?”

Liam makes a thoughtful sound. “It’s hard to explain.” He looks away, to the side, brows furrowed in concentration. “You just—” his frown deepens but then suddenly clears altogether and he looks up at Theo. “You smell  _ real _ . Your emotions, I mean.”

Right, of course. Either he’s out of practice guarding his chemo signals or Liam’s gotten pretty good at sniffing them out. He knows the answer, though, and in the privacy of his own mind he doesn’t have the luxury of lying. He’s lost many things in the hole Kira sent him, just add control to the list.

He takes a breath and closes his eyes. “Does it have to be anything more than what it already is?” he asks softly.

When he judges enough time for Liam to react to that has passed he finally opens his eyes and looks at him. He finds him staring back, something unreadable across his features. His shoulders have shed the tension and his heart is back to a normal rhythm from the earlier anger, so Theo counts it as a win.

Liam frowns and tilts his head. “Kissing and stuff, you mean?”

Theo shrugs. “Kissing and stuff. Sure.”

“I guess not.”

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Ahead of him, Liam springs up the steps and disappears beyond the open door. He leaves it open for him presumably, like it’s the most normal thing to do, because Theo is right behind him, about to follow him inside, as if he were welcome to Melissa McCall’s house. 

He doesn’t even recall the last time he’s been in there. Perhaps right after Hayden and Liam got him out of wherever he was, but the memories of those days are muddled and suspended between realities. He has conflicting images of Tara, then Malia, then both chasing him around the hospital, Malia’s growling down at him, his sister’s fingers burrowing in his chest, Liam’s face looking up at him, pale and scared and Dr. Geyer’s gloved hand slick with red blood—

He chokes on nothing, gasping and stumbling back into the truck, hitting an elbow painfully.

“Theo!” 

He jerks and looks at Liam, whose head and torso have just popped around the doorway. He’s frowning at him, but Theo can’t tell whether it’s worry or confusion or both. He nods at him and takes a deep breath, trying to get his heartbeat under control.

“Come on, there’s coffee inside.”

Well, then. 

Theo takes the steps and hesitates only a moment before crossing the threshold. He gets a wave and a couple of mumbled hellos by the people gathered in the living room, but other than that no one seems to object to his presence.

He closes the door behind him and accepts the steaming mug from Liam as soon as he materializes next to him. Liam clinks their mugs together as if they were having a toast and then joins the others in the living room.

All the members of the junior pack plus Lori are there, while Mrs. McCall seems to be nowhere in sight. In a corner of the room, Parrish’s presence sticks out like a sore thumb as he surveils them, hands on his hips.

Lori is talking quietly to Liam, asking how he is with a shaky voice, as if it weren’t her fault for utterly failing at keeping an eye on the goddamned crazy teacher that Liam almost died yesterday. When Liam says a few reassuring words she hugs him and finally apologizes and Theo has too look away before he crushes he mug in his tightening grip.

He takes a sip of scalding coffee and goes to stand next to Parrish, acknowledging him with a nod.

Parrish looks him up and down and then nods back. “I told Liam already, Jones has been booked for aggravated assault,” he says. “We can’t really pin more on her since Liam doesn’t actually have any wounds.”

Across from them, Liam has finally disentangled himself from Lori and comes towards them, sipping carefully at his coffee. He nods in Parrish’s direction. “He told you?” 

Theo nods.

Parrish takes out a notepad and a pen. “Now that you’re both here, I’ll take your statements.”

Liam looks at Pack members rearranging furniture and gathering maps and notes just a few feet away from them. “There’s no time, we have plans to make.”

Parrish gives him an unimpressed look. “I came all the way over here to take your statements,” he says. “The fact that this wasn’t done last night is already a breach in protocol. Any other anomalies and we risk her getting away with this. You’ll  _ make time _ .”

Liam seems suitably cowed by the glare that follows Parrish final words and he nods quickly, lips pressed in a thin line.

Mrs. McCall arrives just as he and Liam are about finished. Everyone falls silence as she takes in the amount of people who’s just invaded her home. Parrish is the first to move, snapping his notepad shut and hurrying by her with a ‘good afternoon, ma’am,’.

The slam of the door closing behind him seems to shake her out of her reverie.

“Why is my TV on the floor?”

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

After a few bumps in the setting up process — namely reassuring Mrs. McCall that the TV has been moved for its own safety, and trying to keep the map stuck to the wall without causing any permanent damage to it — they finally get to the planning stage of the planning.

Theo and Liam get the same tunnel they got the previous day, on account they were interrupted before actually managing to inspect it, while Corey and Mason get the third property — some kind of long-term storage rental — that’s left on their list.

And then it gets complicated.

“We know you sent us on a pointless task to keep us away from the action,” the hunter kid says. His angry frown is about as intimidating as a chihuahua puppy growling. “We’re not stupid.”

From his position perched on the sofa, Alec nods and points at him. “What he said.”

Liam glares at him. “You got here barely three months ago, excuse me for trying to keep you out of trouble.”

“And what about me?” 

Theo has a policy regarding Liam’s pack: if they leave him alone, he ignores them. This seems to work just fine when it comes to Corey, Mason and Alec. Nolan — and Lori too, though that’s a recent development — however has a way of getting under his skin. Maybe it’s the way he seems to be whining nine times of out ten, or it could be the fact that he’s tried to kill Liam several times but got forgiven and accepted within the pack without even a moment’s hesitation.

It’s likely the whining though, he finds it really annoying.

It’s also the reason Theo speaks up for the first time ever since Parrish’s left. “If he wants to get killed by his pals, let him.” Liam glares at him. “What? We’ve wasted enough time  already,” he gets up and reaches for the jacket he’s draped on the back of the armchair. “I’ll be in the truck.”

“The meeting isn’t over,” Liam growls at him, eyes flashing as if he were an Alpha, but this isn’t Theo’s pack, and Liam’s eyes are still yellow. “Sit your ass down.”

Theo sits his ass down.

“Ah, guys?” Lori snaps her finger, as if she weren’t already pretty high in Theo’s list of irritating things, along with Nolan and his whining and the fact that his body seems to follow Liam’s orders rather than his own. 

She’s staring at the map, thoughtfully. “The hunter went into this tunnel,” she points at Liam and Theo’s assigned tunnel, “with a bike. So, he either has parked the bike inside the tunnels or,” and here she turns around to look at them, “he must have come out from another exit.”

Mason makes a thoughtful sound.

“Or he could have just ditched the bike?” Theo points out.

“It’s a possibility,” she concedes, with a nod. “Let’s assume he didn’t, though,” she turns back to the map. “The only other tunnel that we know that can be easily accessed with a vehicle is this.” Her finger taps on a black triangle that’s now become their accepted way of depicting tunnels on maps. 

This tunnel entrance doesn’t seem to be close to any of the properties or point of interests they’ve added to the map. It is, however, close to the road coasting the preserve, which makes it perfect for a quick getaway.

She twirls back around and looks at Liam, shyly. “I could go check it out with Alec and Nolan?” She shrugs. “I remember the hunter’s scent from the other night, so I’ll know if he’s been by.”

“That’s—”

Mason jumps up and interrupts Liam. “Great idea!” He gathers an empty notepad and a marker and pushes it in Lori’s hands. “And make sure you enable the GPS—”

Alec groans and rolls his eyes. “We got it the first time.”

“—on your phone!”

Lori grins at him. “Sure thing, Mason.”

Theo stands from his seat and puts on the jacket. “So, are we finally going?”

“Not before you put my TV back, you are not.”

They all turn to find Mrs. McCall standing in the doorway, arms crossed and eyebrows steadily climbing towards her hairline.

  
  


* * *

  
  


 

They haven’t exchanged a word since passing by the spot where Liam’s almost bled to death last night. The lingering smell of his blood coupled with the need to be on alert to movement and noises has certainly put a damper on their mood. Not that Theo is above admitting that it works in his favor in some twisted way. 

He’s been relegated to mapping duties and this gives him the pretext to appear concentrated on the task at hand, while he’s mentally calculating the distance he can cover with the gas he’s left in the tank and the dollars in his pocket. Not much, if he’s completely honest, but perhaps enough to get him across State lines and then perhaps he’ll feel like there’s enough distance between himself and Beacon Hills to allow himself to steal some cash before looking for a job.

He’s tried to do it a couple of times, but it’s always felt like someone was looking over his shoulder, just waiting for the chance to go and spill the beans to Scott that Theo’s still a criminal with a nefarious agenda, as if stealing some cash to feed himself and his truck were the same as anything he’s ever done in the past.

Not to mention the fact that Beacon Hills County deputies seem to have a sixth sense exclusively attuned to find Theo and his truck.

In any case, they’ll get rid of these hunters soon and Theo will be able to expand his criminal career to Nevada. Or perhaps Oregon. With his luck, going to Nevada will almost assuredly mean running into Jones’s pack or what’s left of it.

He notes down the bend they’ve just taken, but it ends up as an obscure scribble when he walks into Liam’s back, jostling his arm and almost dropping the marker.

“What the—” he snaps his mouth shut when he notices Liam’s alert posture. He puts the notes and the marker away and extends his claws. “What is it?” He asks then, in a whisper.

Liam closes his eyes and tilts his head. Theo tries concentrating on his own hearing, but doesn’t hear anything that can’t be explained with normal tunnel noises — it seems they’re experts at this point — but since his senses aren’t as developed as those of a real werewolf it doesn’t surprise him much.

After a moment Liam relaxes and shakes his head. Theo retracts his claws and straightens up, as well. “I just thought I heard—” and then Liam’s head whips to face towards his left. “There it is again.”

He scans the darkness stretching before them with the nightvision of his chimera eyes, but there’s nothing there. He remains as still as he can, so as not to disturb Liam and then he hears it. It’s a faint murmur, perhaps people talking. 

“I hear it, too,” he tells Liam. “It’s getting closer.” He steps up next to Liam and widens his stance.

Liam turns to him with a frown. “I think it’s Mason and Corey.”

And sure enough, only a few minutes later, they turn around a bend and there they are, poking their heads in from one side of a bifurcation. 

Mason points a fingers at them and goes ‘Ah-ha!’ in triumph. He ignores the three of them shushing him and telling him to be quiet and jogs over to Liam and Theo.

“I knew our tunnels would connect!” He slaps his notepad against the palm of his other hand. Theo has a brief impression of scribbled notes and the drawing of what looks like a sprawling maze.

“What are you doing here?” 

Despite the fact that Liam’s definitely asked Corey, it’s Mason that answers him, cutting in before his boyfriend even has time to open his mouth. “We broke in but there was nothing inside, so we decided—”

“ _ He _ decided,” Corey interjects, but he’s smiling.

“—to test my theory and see if our tunnels were somehow connected. And look, I was right!”

Corey beams at him, disgustingly proud. “He’s pretty smart.”

Liam glares at Mason. “So it’s fine when you’re the one breaking and entering into places?”

“When they belong to obviously evil people…”

“Ms. Jones almost killed me!”

“Only  _ after _ she actually got to know you.”

Corey shoots them a fond smile and then turns to Theo, eyebrows raised, as if trying to get him to agree that the two idiots are cute or some shit. They’re not, in fact, cute. They’re annoying and wasting all of their time, but most crucially, Theo’s time.

“Are you two done?” Mason and Liam jerk up and fall into a line, side by side. They studiously avoid looking at him, but not before Theo’s noticed the faint blush of embarrassment on their cheeks. “I got the impression that the annoying children were in the other group, but it seems I was wrong.”

Both Mason and Liam’s embarrassment is gone in a second, replaced by an annoyed glare.

Mason turns to Liam and extends his hand. “Okay, let’s compare maps and go from there.” He wiggles his fingers when Liam doesn’t move. “You took notes right, Liam?”

Liam is probably about to start with some idiotic excuse on how he’s been too busy leading or something else for which they have no time, really, so Theo decides to nip the next bout of bickering in the bud and slaps his own notes into Mason’s waiting hand.

Mason blinks down at the notepad in his hands and then up at Theo. “Who knew there would be a day when I actually, genuinely, thanked you, Theo.” He nods. “So, thank you, Theo.”

“No problem,” he deadpans.

“Um, guys?” Corey’s voice is unsure and actually a little scared. He looks up at them and shows them his phone. “I just got the signal back, I think the others are in trouble.”

As if on cue, all their phones start vibrating, even Theo’s.

Liam actually manages to catch the call in time. They huddle around him as he holds the phone in the middle, activating the speaker for Mason’s benefit.

Alec’s voice is nothing more than a tinny whisper. “The good news is we found the hunters,” he says. “The bad news is they found us.”

Liam exchanges a look with Theo. “Are you all right?”

“Lori and Nolan are fighting them,” his voice comes and goes, as if he kept moving closer and then further away from the phone. His breathing sounds labored too and Theo can easily picture him running and turning his head to check he’s not being followed. “I don’t know how long they can keep them off.”

“Get to somewhere safe and hide,” Liam tells him. “We’re coming.”

The phone call cuts off and for a moment they’re frozen in absolute silence, not even a breath being drawn.

Then Liam draws back in that determined demeanor that makes him look older than his years. He turns to Theo. “The scent we’ve been following goes that way, can you confirm this?” he points at the route of the fork that they nor Corey or Mason have explored yet. Theo smells the air and nods. The trace is faint, but he’s reasonably sure. Liam whips around to Mason. “Do you think that if we go that way, we’ll find the entrance where Alec and the other went?”

Mason stares at him, eyes wide. “I—” He fumbles with his notes and his phone. “I don’t—”

Liam roars. “Mason! Focus!”

“I don’t know!”

“You guessed correctly that our two tunnels connected, earlier!”

“I wasn’t gambling on our friends’ lives,  _ earlier _ !”

Liam grabs him by the shoulders and stares into his eyes, serious. There’s a flash of yellow and Mason seems to deflate all at once. “Mason,” he says, slowly, “take a guess.”

Mason squeezes his eyes as if in pain and then nods. “Yes!” It’s almost a sob. “If I have to guess, then yes.”

“You and Corey go back to the car and take the long way around!” Liam shouts at them, but Theo is already running.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Turns out, Mason’s guesses are pretty accurate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bacon pancakes are the shit, y’all.


	15. Teenage wolves, glitter bombs and gratuitous violence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not as glamorous as it sounds.

Liam barely notices Nolan gesturing at him to go, go, go forward, because all the can see is Lori, back to the wall and fangs bared, facing off against three hunters. What he notices, however, is one of the hunters — a woman with a bandage on her neck and a surprising amount of knives strapped to her body — drawing her hand back, fist clenched and holding what smells like wolfsbane. 

He roars and dives forward. 

He slams into her with a flying tackle at waist height, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Her grip on the wolfsbane loosens up and the powder scatters in a cloud that envelops the two of them.

They both start coughing, but Liam suspects he actually has it worse when his eyes and throat start burning. He feels himself being tugged backwards and fights it only for a split second before realizing that it’s Theo.

He gratefully steps back to assess the situation, now that his diversion seems to have worked. Lori pushes back from the wall and moves to the hunter who’ve only just now started to recover from the surprise of having a werewolf and a chimera appear from the darkness of the tunnels.

Liam manages to rub the burning out of his eyes, but his throat is still scratchy and his lungs feel like they’re on fire. Through the tears in his eyes, he manages to look down at himself and find that perhaps the cause is that his clothes are currently covered in purplish powder.

He tears his hoodie off and throws it in the face of the nearest hunter, following through with a well aimed punch. The hunters are all armed, but they seem reluctant to use their weapons in such close quarters when they could hit their own allies. Well, except the woman Theo is currently fighting against, who’s more of a whirlwind of knives rather than an actual human being.

Theo seems to have it under control, however, and they’re basically archenemies by now, so he leaves them to it. 

He grabs Lori’s arm and pulls her back, before she can get shot in the chest with a crossbow. He pushes her towards the direction where they came from, where Nolan is still huddling, clutching at his wounded arm. 

“Go!” he yells at her. She seems to be about to protest, but he silences her with a roar.

There’s no way he and Theo can take the hunters down if they have to worry about protecting Lori and Nolan too. Not to mention the fact that Alec is nowhere to be seen.

Lori stumbles back, away from him, eyes wide, but she nods and goes to Nolan. She half supports him, half drags him up and they rush down the tunnel, away from them and towards safety.

The hunter with the crossbow has reloaded and raises it to line a shot at them, but Liam is faster, taking the distance between them with a leap and delivering an uppercut to his jaw so hard that he sees his eyes rolls back in his head even before he’s dropping to the floor.

Theo seems to be finally gaining the upper hand with Hit Girl too, though not without suffering several stab wounds in the process. With one last kick in the chest, she drops to the ground and doesn’t get up again.

Theo bends over, one hand on his knee, the other pressed to a wound in his side that’s still bleeding. He’s taking deep gasps of air, cursing in between one breath and the other, but when glances up at Liam he’s grinning. The hand at his side curls into a bloodied fist and he extends it towards Liam.

Liam is about to to reach over and fistbump him when he hears movement, a gun being brought up. His eyes snap up to find the hunter that Lori knocked out just a moment earlier is now back to his feet, albeit a little unsteady, and pointing a gun at them. It’s the man who escaped from the house two days ago.

A low growl rumbles at the back of his throat as his eyes follow the swaying of the gun. The man is bleeding from a head wound and trying to staunch the bleeding with his left hand. He’s about thirty feet from them and Liam could probably get to him with a jump. The man might shoot him, but then Theo would still have time to bring him down. What if the man shoots Theo while he’s jumping at him?

The decision is taken from him, when Theo the freaking idiot shouts a ‘hey!’ and the man’s gun jerks in his direction. Liam doesn’t even think about it and steps sideways, pushing Theo back and down with a kick. He hears his outraged curse and then deafening bang of the gun going off. The bullet cuts a hot, searing streak on the side of Liam’s neck that breaks the momentum of his leap and he stumbles to crouch, ten feet off mark.

He looks up to find himself face to face with the barrel and he only has the time to realize that he’s smelling two familiar scents and hearing _seven_ heartbeats before he smells the discharge of electricity and the hunter screeches and falls to the ground.

Mason and Corey appear right behind him, staring at Liam with wide-eyed panic.

“Well, that was close,” is all Liam manages to say.

He only has a moment to register Theo’s ‘That was close?!’ before he’s the one being kicked to the ground.

“What’s the big idea?!”

Liam groans and rolls onto his back. From this perspective, Theo’s snarl appears exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. He doubts that pointing that out might actually work to defuse the situation. Instead, he slowly stands up, brushing the worst off his clothes.

“You could be a little grateful, you know.”

“For what? Almost getting shot in your stupid head?!” The veins at Theo’s neck bulge and he looks seconds away from actually having steam coming out of his ears. Liam barely manages to suppress his chuckle. “But then again it’s not like you have much in the— Are you _laughing_?”

He might be. Only a little. Except he’s coughing now, a lot. Wet, hacking coughs that shake his chest. It seems he didn’t get rid of all the wolfsbane. Hands come to support him when pitches forward, Mason on one side and Theo on the other.

“I’m fine,” he manages between a cough and a gasp. “Just need a moment.”

Still, he lets Theo take some of his weight. He gives him and awkward pat on the closest part of his body he can reach blindly, which turns out to be his calf. “Good job with Hit Girl.”

“You mean knife girl?”

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Theo is barely a functional young adult with a very limited knowledge of pop culture.

“Yeah, sure,” he tells him, because trying to explain right now would take way too long. He coughs again and spits something disgusting. There doesn’t seem to be any blood which is always a good sign. He’s about to point it out when he hears the echo of steps bouncing off the walls of the tunnels.

It doesn’t sound like it’s Lori and Nolan on their way back, though, as the noise is coming from the way direction for that. Also, whoever it is is carrying guns. Many, many guns. He feels Theo go tense next to him and he knows whoever is coming is getting closer.

The vague hope that it’s once again the cavalry of Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies coming to the rescue is dashed away when he hears the soft ‘ping’ and a moment later a dark cilinder sails past the corner, bouncing off the wall and the floor a couple of times on its way to them.

“Hey guys, you’ve all gone squi—” Mason is knocked out of him as both Corey and Liam leap to cover him.

A fraction of a second later, Liam feels Theo’s weight on his back, pushing him down and dropping the four of them to the ground in a confused pile of bodies and flailing limbs.

The grenade goes off with a loud bang and a bright flash that leave Liam’s ears ringing and his eyes temporarily blinded. He tries shaking the sensations away, but to no avail. Someone pushes him away and he barely hears Mason speak over the ringing in his head.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the whole ‘protect the fragile human’ thing, but the fragile human also needs to breathe.”

Liam pushes Theo off his back and stumbles to a standing position. Claws and fangs out, he roars to meet the newcomers head on but between the wolfsbane and the stun grenade he barely manages to keep himself up, white spots dancing in his sight.

“Uh, guys?” Corey’s voice comes as if far away and underwater.

Using Theo as a crutch, Liam looks back and, through his patchy field of view, he sees Hit Girl getting up. That woman _must_ have some supernatural blood in her, there’s no way she’s just human.

Even Theo seems to dismayed by the realization. Liam hears him mutter ‘What is she, the freaking Terminator?!’ before he turns to square off against her.

“Corey, grab Mason and—”

They disappear before he even gets to finish and just as the hunter reinforcements come around the corner, effectively trapping them between a rock with a multitude of knives and a hard place that’s carrying enough firepower to level a house.

One of the hunters tosses what looks like a cylinder— another grenade? He springs to the left to cover the spot where Mason and Corey were just a moment ago, his ears are still ringing so he can’t really be sure. He squeezes his eyes shut, but the explosion doesn’t come.

“What the—”

He looks to his right to find Mason and Corey, visible again, looking down at themselves. They’re covered in what looks like—

“Did they just _glitter bomb us_?!”

Liam is jostled out of his shock when Theo bumps into him. They clump together, automatically huddling around Mason. The hunters close in, guns never wavering, but they don’t shoot.

“We only really need one of you,” one of the new ones says. “So, are you going to come quietly?”

Corey pokes around Liam’s arm. “Mason is human, let him go!”

All that does, however, is getting the barrel of a gun trained on himself. Liam bares his teeth at the hunter as he tries to push Corey back at the same time.

“Shut up!” Mason hisses from where he’s smushed behind him.

“You’re all in the McCall Pack, you all come with us.” Terminator Hit Girl says.

“I’m not really part of the pa—” Theo gets cut off rather abruptly when she kicks out the back of his knee and then elbows him in the back of the neck, dropping him instantly.

“That felt good,” she huffs. Then she looks sideways at Liam with a smirk. Her eyes are brown and cold, her mouth is a twist made even more sinister by the scar on her upper lip. “So, how’s it going to be?”

Theo is passed out on the ground while he, Corey and Mason look like they’ve just come from Pride Night at Sinema. In any other situation, this would be ridiculous.

Who is he kidding, it’s still pretty ridiculous, just also quite deadly. But then again, this is Beacon Hills, there’s no reason why those two things can’t coexist.

He raises his hands, claws turning back into normal, human fingernails.

  
  


* * *

  
  


 

It seems the hunters have indeed been planning this for a while. They's all been tied up and blindfolded — even Theo, who's remained unconscious for the better part of the drive — and after a long drive with a lot of twists and turns that was probably aimed at confusing them rather than actually getting to a specific location, they're marched somewhere that sounds big and feels like it's underground.

Liam gets manacled to the wall, arms stretched almost painfully above him, and then he feels several chains tightening across his chest.

They're _definitely_ prepared for him.

Which begs the question why haven't they attacked Scott while he still was in Beacon Hills, if they're so well-organized. Unless of course they know that Scott's left him in charge and have decided to strike when the Pack is weaker.

He growls and tugs against the chains, but the only result he achieves is a mocking laugh and a condescending pat on his cheek from the hunter that's just finished to tie him up.

"Look at the little wolf and his little fangs," the hunter laughs. The direction and pitch of his voice change mid sentence, signifying he's turned, likely to address someone else in the room.

Liam snaps his head forward and sinks his 'little fangs' in the closest part of the hunter he can find, which turns out to be a forearm. Blood floods his mouth and the hunter screams. Unfortunately, he doesn't get to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction. He gets slapped across the face and then jabbed in the ribs by something that feels like a metal rod. He only has a split moment to wonder what that might be before a shock of high voltage electricity sweeps through his body, making him snap his body in an arch and ripping a half scream, half roar, though it's more in surprise than actual pain.

He hears his name from Mason and Corey on his left and Theo on his right in a cacophony of panicked and angry yelling.

"I'm fine," he croaks, then clears his voice and tries again. "I'm fine, you should see the other guy." The smell of blood permeates the air and its taste Liam’s mouth.

There's a snort from the far corner of the room while the hunter close to Liam hits him with the cattle prod and lets another shock loose. This time, Liam's ready and he manages to keep the scream locked behind his clenched teeth.

There's the sounds of steps and then a heavy door closing, and then they're left alone with their shaky breathing.

"Liam?" Mason asks, quietly, at last.

Liam tugs at the shackles, but between the unnatural way his arms are force to stretch and the chains on his chest severely hindering any movement, he doesn't achieve much. With a sigh, he slumps down. "Sorry for getting you guys into this mess."

"It's not your fault," Corey says.

There's a snort on Liam's right and then a weird sound like snapping, the clanking of chains against the wall and...the sound of clothes being folded? Theo's scent changes abruptly, becoming sharper and carrying with it notes of the forest and of something wild underneath.

"Theo?" he tries, but the only answer he receives is a huff and something light brushing against his calf, claws ticking softly on the floor.

The door bursts open and suddenly there are boots stomping, shouts and the low, threatening growl of a beast. Then only sounds of a fight, a man's cries, the smell of blood.

"Theo!"

He hears the sound of Corey and Mason yanking on their chains, shouting and yelling, but tries to drown it out, concentrating on Theo's heartbeat and his movements and his breath. He shakes his head and rubs the side of his head against his left shoulder. With a little elaborate shimmying, he manages to move his blindfold up enough to see out of his left eye.

Just in time to see as Theo the wolf leaps at a hunter's chest, shifting to human as soon as he makes contact, crashing into him with the momentum of the extra pounds and just avoiding the blow the other one's aimed at him. Fast as lighting, he punches the hunter he's sitting on, bouncing his head against the hard floor and then he throws himself sideways, kicking out with his foot and swiping the legs out from under the second hunter.

He jumps to his feet and, grabbing the man's head between his hands, he jerks it forward while at the same time bringing his knee up and delivering a devastating blow to his face. The hunter's nose bursts instantly, spraying blood everywhere, and the man goes slack in Theo's grip. When he's let go, he slumps to the ground motionless.

The silence is sudden and absolute, broken only by Corey and Mason's harsh breathing on Liam's left and Liam's own heartbeat going crazy.

Across the room, Theo straightens up, towering over the two fallen hunters and looking majestic, not by virtue of his admittedly average height, but by the air of calm power he exudes, completely naked and spattered with blood, his breath even, his eyes flashing yellow and staring back at Liam.

The spell gets broken at the sound of booted feet making their way down the corridor glimpsed just beyond the heavy door. Theo is instantly there, pushing the door closed. The muscles on his back bulge with the effort, catching Liam's sight. His whole back is a thing of beauty, actually, solid and powerful and tapering down to a trim waist and— Liam snaps his head up just as Theo finishes barring the door from the inside.

From beyond it, some muffled noises can be heard, but the room has been soundproofed so well that even with his heightened hearing Liam has trouble hearing anything at all.

"Guys, what's going on?!" Mason moves his head left and right, trying to get his bearing but mostly ending up spreading glitter everywhere. "Is everyone we care about still alive? I heard a noise, did Theo kill someone?"

Theo rolls his eyes so theatrically that it must be entirely for Liam's private benefit. He crouches next to the two men he just took down, pats one down and then stretches and leans over to get to the other. Liam's throat makes a weird noise, causing Theo to glance up curiously at him, from over his shoulder.

There's really no conceivable reason why Theo should go around naked and on all fours frisking unconscious men.

"Everything's fine," Liam squeaks.

"Are you sure? You sound weird."

Theo blinks and for the briefest moment, so brief that Liam thinks he's imagined it, his eyes dart down before narrowing. Oh god, Liam fervently hopes he hasn't been checking his trouser area situation. Liam himself doesn't want to think about his trousers area situation, not when Corey and Mason are in the same room and most definitely not when they are separated from a bunch armed and angry hunters by nothing but a door, as sturdy as that might be.

Theo raises his hand, showing him a set of keys. He jingles it.

Oh.

He straightens up and reaches Liam first. This up close the smell of him and his enticing skin is even more...problematic, so to speak. He can only find consolation in the fact that, since they're basically standing chest to chest, the Theo Raeken show has gone back into at least PG-13 territory. Of course then the problem is that Liam has enhanced senses and he's standing chest to chest with a naked Theo.

Theo gets on tip toes, treating him to an up close view of his neck, and strains to reach the lock at Liam's wrists. The task is made suddenly more difficult by the fact that Liam's face somehow finds itself buried in the crook of said neck. He pushes against it, nuzzling. Under him, Theo goes completely still and Liam freezes after realizing just what he's doing a moment too late.

He pulls back, slowly, as much as the chains allow him and when he glances up Theo is staring at him with an exasperated look. His eyes shift to where Corey and Mason are still hanging. "Really, Liam, really?" he hiss. "Now?"

Liam mutters an apology and tries to pull back even further, but the wall is cold and unyielding behind him.

Finally, the manacles pop open and Liam lets his arms down, rubbing at his chafed wrists and hissing at the pins and needles when blood circulation resumes normally. Theo is already busy with the locks keeping the chains across his chest and a moment later they coil around his feet and Liam is free to tear the blindfold completely off.

Theo turns to him and they're left standing close, chest to chest and face to face, breathing the same air. Theo, his eyes crossing in the effort of looking into his eyes, sways backwards and Liam instinctively goes to steady him with a hand at his hip. His very naked hip.

They jolt apart as if shocked.

Theo tosses him the keys and gestures vaguely to the two unconscious hunters. "Free them," he says. "I'll put the hunters in your place."

Liam jerks his head in a nod, not trusting his voice right now, and goes to Corey and Mason. He removes both their blindfolds trying to avoid getting glitter on his hands but ultimately failing. He's just moved onto Mason manacles when he notices that he's staring at something over his shoulder with a somewhat shell shocked look, his jaw slack.

He looks over his shoulder to find Theo — still oh so naked — dragging one of the hunters towards the chains that previously held Liam.

He turns back to Mason with a glare. He can't really blame him for staring when naked Theo is so...when Theo is _so_. But there's something clawing inside Liam's chest, a temper building, making his hackles rise, something ugly that wants to growl at Mason for looking like that when Theo's— Theo is—

Nothing, really. Theo’s an indefinable entity in relation to Liam. The kissing that took place and the fact that Theo doesn’t seem to have an aversion to it or to the unspecified ‘stuff’ that has yet to happen — hopefully very soon — probably means that they’re involved in some kind of level of intimacy, but other than that, Theo seems still stuck between friend and ally, unclear and undefined.

And very, very naked.

"Stop staring!" He hisses, tugging on Mason's chains, perhaps a bit too cruelly, as he hisses in turn. He does manage to get his attention back. "What happened to 'he's evil and will kill us in our sleep, Liam'?"

"I have eyes!"

Liam makes an affronted sound, purely out of indignation on Corey's behalf he'll swear to his deathbed. Theo isn't helping, as he just snorts and doesn't defend his own dignity.

"You have a boyfriend!"

"He also has eyes," Corey pipes up, next to Liam.

This time, Theo lets out a surprised bark of laughter. It gets cut off when Liam's hoodie hits him in the face.

  


 

* * *

  
  
  


A shakedown of the still unconscious hunters has produced no phones nor any other tool that can tell them how long they've spent in here, but Mason is back in possession of his borrowed cattle prod and noticeably less anxious, Corey's brandishing the tonfa dropped from one of the hunters like a bat and Theo has clothes on, so they're basically ready for anything.

While the hunters have eyes on them inside here, as the cameras hanging from the corners of the room can attest, they have no way to tell whether they're going to be mowed down by gun fire are soon as they open the door. Even more worryingly, the faint noises coming from beyond the door have stopped a while back and, even straining his ears, Liam can't hear anything — heartbeats, voices, footsteps, not even echoes — at all.

He looks back at the other and shakes his head. They're huddling together and talking barely above a whisper, in case there are mics in addition to the cameras.

Liam shoots a look at Corey. "Are you ready?"

Corey nods and rolls his sleeves up so that he and Theo can both get in contact with his skin on the side that isn't occupied by Mason. The two of them vanish from sight and a moment later, Liam feels Mason grabbing the tail end of his t-shirt, making him aware of his position. Next to him, Theo's hoodie — or rather, Liam's hoodie that Theo's wearing, since his got ruined by blood and stab wounds — is grabbed by Corey in a similar manner.  Then, he feels them move a little to the left in order to avoid standing directly in front of the door and the line of fire.

He looks a Theo and nods, and the two of them move to the barred door. Theo's going to take care of the deadbolt, while Liam is going to lift the bar itself at the same time. They count to three and then move together. As soon as the door is unlocked, they fling themselves backward, reaching blindly for Corey's hand.

They stumble all over each other, but they somehow manage to remain standing and, even more miraculously, not sound like a herd of stampeding buffalos and give away their position like that.

The door remains unlocked, but closed and doesn't move an inch.

A minute passes.

Liam exchanges a look with the others, but they look as confused as he feels. He raises a finger and mouths 'wait', before letting go of Corey's wrist. He gestures at them to move to the side, away from the door, and hears their soft steps as they follow his order. When he's satisfied that they're going to be out of harm's way, he creeps closer to the door and pulls it open barely an inch, freezing and listening for anything.

Nothing happens.

He opens the door some more, just enough to peek around it.

The corridor is completely empty, all thirty or so feet of it, until it disappears to the right, as it goes around the corner. And unless the hunters know how to disguise themselves with magic like Ms. Jones, it doesn't sound like there's anyone either.

Liam turns to where his hearing pinpoints the others' position and shrugs, raising his hands. Theo reappears back into view and joins him at the half-opened door. He sticks head out and has a look, but from the way he too echoes Liam's shrug he doesn't seem to have anything to add.

Then, a shot rings out, starling them.

It reverberates like a door slamming in an empty house, though it sounds far enough that it doesn't feel like they're immediate danger. The echo makes it difficult to pinpoint its exact location, but since they only have one option for way outs so far, Liam springs forward and hurries across the corridor. Behind him, Theo mutters a curse and follows suit, then Corey and Mason.

From around the corner, the situation isn't much different: another thirty feet or so of corridor and then another steel door. The sound of voices and fighting is now audible on the other side of it. More gunshots too and Liam is out and running straight towards them before he's even consciously registered that one of the voices is Lori's.

He throws open the door and finds himself in a vast room, likely a repurposed warehouse. There are some desks cluttered by files and papers as well as several laptops and what looks like a pile of cell phones, among which there’s Liam’s too, hopefully. He’s broken a couple in the past month, thanks to Anuk-ite related rage and his parents won’t be happy if he comes home without it. A couple of generators hum to the side, providing power for the laptops and the industrial grade tower lights that flood the room with bright white lights. Several weapons are laid in various states of assembly on another desk and five cots, a camp stove and a mini fridge are shoved to the far wall, next to a heater.

Two black vans are parked near one of the exits and the remaining hunters are huddled behind them, guns in hand. They don't seem to notice Liam as they're plenty distracted by the car emblazoned with the Beacon Hills County Sheriff logo on the side parked sideways in the vehicle entrance of the warehouse, flashing lights still on. He catches sight of Parrish crouching in cover at its back, with Nolan's face poking from behind him, pale and scared. He looks way less confident now than when he was on the side with the crossbows and the hate.

When Theo skids to a halt next to him, Liam grabs his wrist and drags him behind one of the generators.

Nobody's shooting for now, but the acrid smell of gunpowder still permeates the air. The voice of the Sheriff comes from the other side of the police van and yells something about dropping the guns and letting go of the kid and that's when Liam sees him.

One of the hunters has Alec down, knee in the middle of his back and a hand pushing his face to the floor while the other is pointing a gun at the back of his head.

Alec's eyes are squeezed in pain or fear or both, he can't tell, and a bruise is purpling on his cheek.

Theo's arm is a bar on his chest, while his other hand presses against his mouth, barely in time to silence the roar building up in his throat. Like the time — both times — in the hospital, it's only the surprise that allows Theo to drag him back behind cover. Liam shakes it off easily this time, pushing him away and almost sending him crashing in the other generator.

" _Fine_ ," Theo growls, pushing back. "Go get yourself shot, see if I care!"

"Guys!" Mason's voice hisses from somewhere off to the left, but he's drowned by Lori's roar.

Lori, who's jumping off from one of the black SUVs, claws and fangs out, full stage diving in the middle of the gaggle of hunters. Three go sprawling like bowling pins as she lands on top of the one holding Alec down. The hunters have at least _some_ amount of training and their weapons are secured with slings or to their tac-vests and they're back on their feet and battle ready in a matter of seconds.

One of them stumbles back and raises his gun at Lori's back, moving as if in slow motion in Liam's tunnel vision. Everything fades away to leave just him, his gun and Liam's heartbeat, as he takes the distance between one breath and the next. He leaps and tackles him, colliding with him so hard that they leave a dent when they crash into the side of the SUV.

He's yelling and then screaming when Liam brings down his claws and tears through the sling, the tac-vest and finally skin. He tosses the rifle away and roars at the man cowering beneath him. A gun goes off to his right and Lori cries out. He turns and sees her stumbling down to her knees, a hand pressed to her side where red is spreading fast, but still fierce and snarling at the hunter as she shields Alec with her body.

There are two more hunters behind her, and Hit Girl beyond them, getting up from behind the other SUVs. Somebody's shouting his name, but he can't hear anything above the roaring in his ears and he can't see anything else except Lori, bleeding and crouching over Alec's prone form, once again desperate to save somebody and Liam can't watch her die again, not when she's just come back, not when they're so close to finally getting rid of the hunters, not while Liam's in charge.

The familiar hot blaze of anger whites out his vision and for the first time in his life he welcomes it.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Liam comes to lying on the cold, hard floor, next to one of the foldable desks. He blinks at the blue and red flashes of light reflected on the ceiling and then sits up. His head feels tender in the back and when he goes to touch it he feels something coming away in flakes that turns out to be dried blood.

Theo is standing next to him, leaning against the wall, but when he notices Liam's awake and conscious he slides down the wall to a crouch.

"I had to knock you out," Tho says and then looks down at Liam's hoodie he's wearing with a grimace. There's dried blood and deep slashes in the fabric that offer glimpses at Theo's skin underneath with every movement. "It took a while."

Liam sighs forlornly. "I really liked that hoodie."

"You only have yourself to blame." Liam pokes one of the holes, slipping his fingers inside the holes - a perfect match, unsurprisingly - and barely brushes Theo's warm, unblemished skin. When no protest comes, he presses more firmly, until he's arguably caressing Theo's abdomen. He hears Theo's breath catch in his throat and jolts back, embarrassed.

He looks away, to survey the scene. An ambulance and two other police cars seem to have arrived while Liam was unconscious and there's the bustle of deputies cordoning off the scene and collecting evidence. Sheriff Stilinski is talking to an EMT, while Parrish is talking to Nolan, Alec and Lori, taking their statements. They look somber but they've lost their pale, shaken look from earlier. Alec's bruise is gone and Lori seems to be standing fine, though she's wearing Alec's jacket, likely to hide what would be an inexplicable bloodstain. Corey and Mason are nowhere to be seen.

Theo nudges him with his elbows, shifting Liam's attention back to him. "I knew about the IED thing, but wow," he shakes his head. "You really do hulk out, don't you?"

Liam feels his face go hot, instantly, while the rest of his body breaks out in a cold sweat. He sits up stiffly. "Sorry for maiming you." He glances at Theo, but he doesn't seem to be particularly bothered. He's just looking back at him, curiously. Liam clears his throat and looks away. "Did I...Did anything happen?"

A snort. "Did you kill anybody, you mean?" Theo's voice is entirely too nonchalant for the situation. Liam winches. "Nah. You're still Scott's little, precious beta. Knife Girl's gonna have a pretty bad scar, though. So good work there."

"You mean Hit Girl," Liam corrects him absent-mindedly and then he recalls the fight at his house. He frowns. "Didn't you bite her too?"

Theo bumps their shoulders together. When Liam looks at him, he's grinning. "Then she'll have something to remember us by." He raises his fist for Liam to bump, but it drops down a moment later, unbumped, together with his grin when Sheriff Stilinski's shadow falls on them.

They both push off the wall and stand up, Theo instantly slipping into a calm and collected demeanor, hands shoved in the hoodie pockets and slinking in the background. The Sheriff doesn't seem to mind him, though, instead staring at Liam and assessing his condition before asking, "you okay, kid?  Things got pretty hairy back there for a second."

"Yeah. Theo helped."

The Sheriff blinks and then, very slowly, he turns to stare at Theo, eyes narrowed to a doubtful squint. "Theo hit you in the head with a table." At this Theo just raises his shoulders. "Three times." Theo widens his eyes innocently.

Liam glances down at the previously unexplained foldable desk lying on the floor a his feet. Now that he looks closely, there's a place that looks scuffed and slightly dented and bloody in the middle of it. He looks back at Theo, but he's still blinking, wide-eyed.

"You have a pretty hard head."

Judging by the damage sustained by the hoodie, Liam supposes the liberal use of the desk might have been justified at the time, but still. Theo's come out of it fine and healed, so the only victim ends up being Liam's much loved and now very destroyed hoodie.

Alec, Nolan and Lori walk up to them, apparently done with giving their statements. They stop behind the Sheriff, fidgeting, and they seem to all have trouble looking at him, even Lori who knows about his more...volatile nature and has seen it in action already. Though perhaps not as a clawed and fanged supernatural force. He supposes that's way more scarier than a kid with a bat and a bad temper.

He tries to push his bitterness down with his shame and manages to catch Lori's eyes. "You all right?" He glances at Alec and then Nolan, too. "Everyone okay?"

Alec shrugs. "Things got a bit scary after Lori got hit, but I guess that's why we keep Theo around."

Theo lets an hilariously outraged sound, between a scoff and an over the top gasp and like that Liam feels his shoulders relax. He gives Theo, who's still glaring at Alec, a pat on the shoulder and keeps his hand there. "Well, as nobody got hurt..." he looks at the Sheriff. "You got them all?" Then suddenly something occurs to him. "How did you guys get here so fast?"

The Sheriff gestures to Alec, who glances at both of them and then shrugs. "I was hiding in the bushes when Mason and Corey arrived at the tunnel, but I wasn't able to get to them in time before they went invisible and I didn't want to call out to them in case I gave away their presence."

Liam glances around the room. Where _are_ Corey and Mason? He can smell their scent in the air, but the heartbeats he can hear close to him are all present and accounted for by the people around him.

"Then the hunters got there before I could follow them inside. They left their cars unlocked, so I hid my phone inside in case they escaped and we needed to find out where they went." He holds up the phone in question. "Since Mason was so obsessed with the map thing I had my GPS set up and all."

As if summoned, Corey and Mason pop into existence about thirty feet from them, safely out of sight behind a SUV. They hurry over to them, the cattle prod shoved in Mason's belt and the tonfa in Corey's bouncing against their thighs with every step. They look overly excited, Corey's eyes are wide and round, while Mason is smiling almost maniacally. Mason is clutching a laptop to his chest.

"Guys!"

The Sheriff gives them a once over. "Why are you two covered in glitter?" Then he catches sight of the laptop and he frowns. "Is that evidence from my crime scene?"

Mason doesn't even acknowledge him and instead flips open the laptop with an overly excited gesture, sending glitter everywhere and almost dropping the laptop in the process. "We have her!" He turns the laptop so they can see it. The screen shows an e-mail thread. It's nothing remarkable at first glance, but Mason seems to think it's pretty important and Mason has been known to have brilliant ideas at times, so Liam takes a closer look and spots what look like a set of coordinates.

He glances up to Mason's blinding smile. "What is it?"

"That," Mason clicks the laptop shut, "is Monroe's position as of last night."

Liam pulls him into a hug, crushing the laptop between them and getting a breathless squeak out of him.

Glitter be damned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, ‘Recheck hoodie dynamic.’ is a real comment that happened during editing.


	16. It was me, looking for myself, hoping for something more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo has a shower, an existential crisis and some ~~breakfast~~ lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for all the kudos (kudoses? Kudoi?) and the comments. I promise I've read them all and I cherish them, but it's really hard for me to reply in general, and at least until I've finished posting this fic. It's the first time that I post something "episodic" like this and not all at once, so I have to push myself and unanswered comments are the way I motivate myself. I'll only reply when I'm done!
> 
> In other news, I'm moving into a new place in the next few weeks, so posting (and Internet access, actually) will likely become even spottier. I apologise for this, but we're almost at the end! It could be I'll go on a brief 2/3-weeks hiatus, depending on the Internet situation. In the meantime, thank you all again for the support!

Events unfold as if fast forwarding past Theo. Or maybe it’s him the one moving slowly, as if through water.

He blinks and he's sitting in the back of a police cruiser, Liam and Corey getting in after him.

He blinks and he's getting out of the cruiser together with the others.

Blink. Sitting in Liam's living room, a blanket around his shoulder and Mrs. Geyer pressing a hot cup of something into his hands.

Blink. He's lying on the couch. He can hear Liam and Mason animated voices coming in from the kitchen, occasionally interrupted by Liam's parents asking something.

Blink. 

Blink.

He wakes up with the rays of daylight warming his face. He's lying on the couch, shoes off but still wearing the clothes from the previous day, mud and blood and all. Someone has tucked the blanket around his body and there's a glass of water on the couch table. His mouth does feel like the Sahara, so he sits up and drains the glass in one go. 

There are noises coming from the kitchen and he ventures in that direction, his socked feet making no sound. The door is open and he catches sight of Mrs. Geyer making herself some coffee. There's a laptop open on the table, music playing softly, and files neatly piled on the side. A notepad is open to the right of the laptop, three pens lying next to it in an orderly row, all but one capped.

Liam certainly hasn't inherited his mother's tidiness.

"Good morning."

He supposes that spending all his time around creatures with enhanced senses has made him forget that he actually moves very silently. He doesn't know who of the two of them is more startled, Mrs. Geyer letting out a screech and jumping a foot in the air, or him, startled by her being startled and instantly switching to a defensive stance, claws out and senses scanning for threats.

They remain frozen like that for a long moment, staring at each other with wide eyes. The music plays softly, some kind of indie rock vibe.

Then Mrs. Geyer lets out an embarrassed chuckle and relaxes, leaning back against the counter, hand on her chest. "You sure are quiet."

"Sorry."

She waves away his apology and turns gestures to the coffee. "Coffee? Or maybe you'd like some breakfast?" She glances at the clock on the oven, "or lunch, I guess."

Theo does a double take. It's almost noon, he must have slept at least twelve hours. "Ah, I didn't mean to sleep in this late."

Once again, she waves his words away. "Obviously you needed it. So, lunch?"

Theo's stomach answers for him, growling loudly. He presses a hand against it as if muffling it, but it's too late. She laughs out loud and Theo feels himself flush. He doesn't even know when's the last time he ate. 

"I'll take that as a yes." She goes to the fridge to check its content. "I wasn't supposed to work from home today, so there's not much, but I can whip something up for the two of us." Her head peeks from around the fridge door. She gives him a once over, eyes lingering on Liam's ruined hoodie. He supposes he must look a frightening sight. "Why don't you go and change into something less...Halloween night special?"

His clothes are back at Deaton's clinic, where he left them a lifetime ago, it seems. "I don't really have anything to change into."

"You can borrow some of Liam's things, I'm sure he won't mind." He probably will mind actually, but it's his own fault the hoodie is now ruined, so it's not like he can hold it against Theo. In any case, his opinion doesn't seem to be relevant as Mrs. Geyer is already making her way upstairs. She keeps talking, taking the fact that he should follow her for granted. "He has some loose clothes that should fit you, you look about the same height." 

She stops on the threshold of Liam's bedroom to survey the room. Theo clearly sees her take in the clothes strewn all over the desk, the shoe left abandoned on the floor with its companion nowhere to be found, the half unmade bed. She clucks her tongue disapprovingly and shakes her head. "I apologize on behalf of my messy son."

Theo's about to tell her that it's nothing he hasn't seen before, except she doesn't know, does she. He glances at the bed where the imprint of  _ two _ bodies is still noticeable, if one looks closer. She doesn't though, and rather goes to the wardrobe and looks among Liam's clothes. She comes out with a deep maroon hoodie, a white t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants and lays them, neatly folded, on the bed, just right where Theo was lying the night before.

"Bathroom is across the hallway. There are some clean towels in the cupboard." She turns on her way out of the door, one hand on the doorknob. "Take you time, I'll be downstairs when you're done."

The door clicks shut behind her and Theo is left alone in Liam's room with both their scents enveloping him. He looks at the change of clothes, they smell clean, no Liam on them, but it would be yet another layer of him that he's wrapped around himself. Layers and layers, until his scent is lost, until he can only smell himself mixed together with Liam's scent. Even now, with the smell of blood and sweat, the lingering scent of Liam's life has settled on him like a blanket, literally from the blanket.

He looks at the window. He could leave. He could run to get his truck and leave right now.

But no, Mrs. Geyer would realize that he's gone and she'd probably tell Liam. Would Liam come look for him right away? Would he come at all? He's sounded genuinely worried the times when he's not answered his phone right away, so maybe. Though now the hunters are all behind bars and there's nothing really to worry about.

Except he can't shake the way Liam's looked at him, last night and the night before, when they were alone in his bed and when they were unseen in the hands of the hunters, with Corey and Mason only a few feet from them. There's arousal and desire in both his eyes and his scent when he looks at Theo, he wants him, but this isn't surprising. Theo knows he's got a desirable body, a desirable face. He's made used of both when it suited him. 

And yet.

There have been flashes of something like wonder — though not exactly — when they were lying on the bed and Theo was still freaking out about Liam almost dying, trying to keep it quiet, to distance himself from it, and Liam's' eyes were— Liam was  _ tender _ . As if Theo, his skin, his eyes, his lips, were breakable, or something precious that Liam needs to handle with care.

But Theo's not breakable, he's broken. He's not precious, he's twisted, damaged.

Theo should leave, he takes a step towards the window, but Liam's mother calls from downstairs, asking if he's found everything okay and he can stay. He can have a shower and make small talk and charm Liam's mother and then leave with an excuse and get to his truck and leave and be gone.

He used to be good at this, smiling and be charming and have people pile words upon words on him and never quite get anything really relevant out of him. He was a mirror, letting people talk at him and then see themselves in him, but ever since he's been—away, it's as if the mirror has been smashed, his disguise torn down and he doesn't know how to be an imitation anymore, so he's left with just himself, whatever that is. Something raw, something exposed before everyone. He's lesser, he's missing, he's an echo. A reflection, still, but empty. He's lost the words, he's lost the gestures.

The bathroom is spacious enough that he feels cold standing naked in the emptiness of the room. The water he drank earlier isn't sitting well in his stomach, sloshing around unpleasantly as he removes all his clothes. He steps into the bathtub, careful not to touch and dirty anything on his way. No touching means no holds except the edge of the bathtub and as he bends forward, he feels light-headed, his vision goes white for a moment and he loses his balance. He manages to catch himself at the last moment, slapping a hand against the tiles and he stumbles against the wall. He stays there for a long moment, eyes squeezed shut and knees almost buckling, feeling like he's about to pass out.

He takes a couple of deep breath and the sensation is gone. He straightens from where he's collapsed against the wall and when he reaches for the mixer he finds his hand slightly trembling still. Hot, almost scorching water, pours down on him, ripping a loud gasp out of him. He forces himself to stand under it until his body slowly gets used to it and the small space is foggy with steam.

He watches as the dried blood and the dirt washes down the drain, in pinkish brown rivulets. He watches himself being washed away, as he covers himself with the smell of Liam's soap. Then he dries himself with towels that smell like the detergent on his clothes, he wears Liam's clothes that smell nothing like Theo. He covers and hides his emptiness away and then goes downstairs to the smell of bacon and eggs, making sure he's noisy enough as he walks.

Liam's mother smiles at him when he comes into the kitchen. "I didn't see any particular reason why we couldn't have breakfast for lunch," she says.

Theo smiles back. It feels brittle and so sharp it might actually cut and bleed his lips, but it doesn't entirely fail.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


 

They don't talk while they're eating, though Theo knows that she's dying to say something, or ask him something. Several times, she's put down her fork and opened her mouth, only to close it a moment later without making a sound. All those times Theo has pretended not see. He just needs to get through this lunch and then he can leave.

He's so hungry, eating is making him nauseated, but the lightheadedness from before in the shower is gone and he doesn't feel like he might unravel at the slightest pressure. He ignores the nausea and asks for a refill. Who knows when he'll be able to have another full meal and if he keeps his mouth full, Mrs. Geyer won't ask him anything.

Of course, he hasn't considered the fact that, while she's been very polite up until now, she still shares some of Liam's DNA.

"So," she starts. "About what happened last night..."

He freezes in the act of shoveling more eggs in his mouth. He puts the fork down and swallows what he has in his mouth before leaning back in the chair. "What did Liam tell you?"

She makes a frustrated noise and looks away, shaking her head. "Nothing! He's—" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she looks back at him, she's calmed down but she's still visibly upset. "He said that they've found all the hunters left here and Mason mentioned a Ms. Monroe...?" Theo nods and she continues, "but nothing else. Nothing about all the b-blood the two of you— and Mason and Corey were covered in glitter? What was  _ that  _ about?"

She stares at him as if he had all the answers for her, begging without asking to tell her that everything is going to be fine, that her son isn't a monster or that he's not going to be in constant mortal danger for the rest of his life. Theo used to be good at lying and, judging from events in the past few days, he still hasn't lost it. Lying to a normal human should be even easier, but this isn't a normal human, it's Liam's  _ mother _ , scared and worried the same way he's been scared and worried two nights ago when he ran back to Jones with Parrish and Stilinski, straining his hearing for Liam's breath, for his heartbeat and hearing  _ nothing _ .

"I'm not sure I should be the one—"

"Theo!"

He blinks, startled. It's stupid, Liam's parents know his name, but the way she says it is the same way he's heard her address Mason and Liam when she's scolding them. Definitely angry, but her tone has a layer of familiarity too, of affection. She treats him as if he were just another of Liam's friends, but then again she doesn't know better.

"Where's Liam?"

She narrows her eyes at him, but he's faced countless horrors and hardships and isn't about to be cowed by the exasperated look of Liam's mother, no matter how much it reminds Theo of Liam himself.

They remain locked in the stare, in silence, for a long time. Nothing longer than a minute, certainly, but it feels much more. Mrs. Geyer is the one who looks away first. She huffs and stands up, collecting her plate and carrying it to the sink. She scrapes the remaining eggs in Theo's plate without him even asking and then puts the pan in the sink to rinse.

She turns on the coffee machine and then plops herself back down on the chair, arms crossed over the table. "He's at Scott's, as far as I know," she says, finally. "A...pack meeting?"

He nods and shovels more food into his mouth, just to buy himself more time, even though it's making him even more nauseated. He takes a deep breath and then puts the fork down. "I don't think I can eat anymore," he admits, sheepishly looking down at his plate, still half full.

"Oh!" Mrs. Geyer blinks at him. "I thought— Liam packs away food like there's a shortage, even more so lately. Initially I thought because of lacrosse, but now I know the truth. I thought it was the same for everyone."

"Werewolf metabolism is faster than a human's. And even though I'm not strictly speaking a werewolf like Liam, we do have similarities. So yeah, I usually eat more than a normal human, but," he shrugs, "I'm just not that hungry right now."

She takes his plate and replaces it with a cup of steaming coffee. "What do you mean, you're not a werewolf?" She shoots him a glance as she's packing away the leftovers. "I think I heard Liam say you're a hybrid?"

"A chimera," he corrects automatically before even realizing. "It's—"

She puts up a hand to halt him, which is just as well, because he doesn't know what he'd have said. "None of my business, really." She turns to face Theo again, leaning against the counter with a cup of her own. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. It's just—" she shrugs. "I'm just trying to understand what's going on in my son's life."

There it is. It's subtle, so subtle that it might have been done subconsciously, the little jab, the reproach coloring her words. She's a mother wielding the most effective weapon a mother could wield: disappointment. Theo recognizes it, though, he's been taught how to manipulate people and once you know how to take advantage of the nuances of words and tone, it's easy to spot it when others are using it.

He pretends to think about it, looking down at his coffee. Liam's made himself scarce and left him to deal with this, he'd deserve Theo spilling the beans about all the stupid risk-taking, lately, about going after hunters and crazy teachers by himself, without notifying Scott and making it  _ his  _ problem instead of Theo's.

But Mrs. Geyer has given him a blanket and Liam's clothes and a hot shower and food, so he tries to keep it as vague as he can.

"Last night...It was a bad scene," he says softly. "Worse than the one here."

Mrs. Geyer looks worried when he looks up at her, finger clutching the mug so hard, the knuckles are white. She doesn't say anything, though.

"We were trying to find their — the hunter's — hideout, but we got a call from Lori, Nolan and Alec. They were cornered." He takes a sip of the coffee, giving himself the time to think of what to say next. Telling her of the kidnapping isn't an option. Considering that Liam, Mason and Corey are all legally adults now, the Sheriff has no reason to share his report with their parents. "We rushed to their aid, but Lori got hurt, badly and...Liam snapped."

She's been nodding slowly, attentive, until he gets to the last part. The she freezes. "He  _ snapped _ ?"

She fumbles with her mug, almost dropping it. She lays it gingerly on the counter, her hands are shaking. She turns away from him, one hand shooting up to cover her mouth. She stays like that for a long time and for a moment Theo is terrified that she's going to have a crying mother on his hands without knowing what to do. When she turns back, though, her eyes are dry, though she's even paler than earlier. She crosses her arms on her chest, but it looks more like she's trying to hug herself than anything else.

"His IED?" she asks, quietly. At his nod, she gives a broken sob. "Oh my god, I  _ knew _ being a—a werewolf would make things worse! He told us he's got it under control, that he has a...a  _ mantra _ , but— I should have insisted when he stopped taking the meds, but he was so unfocused and he couldn't play lacrosse...but now he's so much stronger and— would the meds even  _ work  _ on him now?!"

Well, there goes Theo's plan of keeping this on an emotionally-neutral level. He goes around the table and approaches her slowly, making his movements and gestures obvious and deliberate, though it's unlikely she'll lash out and break his nose.

He touches her elbow and she stops abruptly, mid-sentence. "Mrs. Geyer." When he's certain she's calmed down, he leads her back to the table by the elbow. She sits and her hands go instantly around her cup when he places it in front of her.

He feels her eyes following him as he walks around to his chair and then sits down. He looks into her eyes. "I'm not going to lie," he says. It’s not a lie, technically. "He's got a good grasp on his anger issues—"

"They're not 'anger issues'," she sighs. "It's a disorder. He used to take meds, he went to therapy, then this happens!"

"Mrs. Geyer," he says, before she starts on another tirade about werewolf physiology. She's not wrong, Liam's current metabolism would make meds moot and he doesn't know of any therapists that take werewolves, though this is Beacon Hills, so who knows. "Liam is stronger as a werewolf and so is his anger, it's true," he tells her. "But that's also the reason it works in his favor."

She frowns. "I don't understand."

"Liam would never hurt anyone, really." Even at his angriest, he's only  _ almost _ killed Scott. That dubious honor goes solely to Theo. "He knows he's much stronger than he's ever been, so it's easier to bri— it's easier for him to come down from his rages when he knows the consequences if he let loose would be much worse now."

"But you said he snapped..."

"He did. But Mrs. Geyer, you have to understand," he puts up a hand to placate her. "Lori, he— he  _ cares  _ about her and she got badly hurt. The hunters had guns and while we're never technically unarmed and can sometimes recover from bullets as you've seen, Mason and Nolan were there too."

She puts her face in her hands. "Guns," she whimpers. "How are people shooting at my son and his friends the norm, now?"

"They're not, we stopped them. That's the point." He reaches out, laying his fingers to the outer side of her elbow. She jolts away at the contact and he quickly takes his hand back, tucking it under his arm. He has her attention now, though. "His control has gotten better and at the end of the day there were no serious or permanent injuries."

Her mouth forms a perfect O as she stares at him, uncomprehendingly. "No serious..." she trails off, shaking her head. "The state of your clothes, the— the blood!"

"As I said, no permanent injuries."

He almost says that he probably deserved it, but he keeps his mouth shut. He tells himself that's because it's complicated to explain, how he almost killed her son and his friends and how they hated each other and now here he is with borrowed clothing begging meals from his mother.

'Complicated' is less of a loaded word than 'ashamed' he supposes.

Though shame isn't a new feeling for Theo. He's felt shame throughout his like for what he was. Shame for being weak, shame for not being enough, shame for not being an Alpha. It was a shallower shame that came from being someone else's failure. It was light and ignited into anger easily. But since he got back, since the hospital, he's felt shame for what he's  _ done _ . It's a new, deeper, shame. It permeates everything he does and say, his dreams. It chokes him and crushes him.

Like now. The nausea is back, he can taste the bile at the back of his throat.

"Right." Mrs. Geyer slaps a hand on the table, startling him out of his thoughts. "Finish your coffee, we have a...pack meeting to go." She frowns. "Did I say that right?"

"What? No, I can't—"

"Liam made me promise to make you go," she tells him. "And I'm going too, so. Finish your coffee." There's a determined look in her blue eyes that's very familiar.

Theo drinks his coffee.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


 

Liam's the one to open the door and, for a moment, Theo's is treated to the sight of his face lighting up when he sees him fidgeting on the doorstep of Scott's house. He's smiling, even. At Theo.

Whatever he's been about to say dies on the way out of his mouth and he just stands there, gaping like an idiotic fish.

And then Liam's gaze travels past him and the smile disappears, replaced by a frown. "Mom? What are you doing here?" Then Liam's looking at Theo again, but this time he's angry. "Why did you bring her here?"

Well, that certainly sours the mood. Theo wills himself to fight off his muscles getting tense, to push down the wave of annoyance. He used to have better control than this, he used to be able to fake complex emotions, but now he can barely lie convincingly. Perhaps it’s the lack of purpose, he doesn’t really do much more than exist lately. Sure, he’s helped Liam and his friends, but probably because he’s got nothing else to do.

He used to be driven, but now he’s just aimless. Maybe that’s what missing, where the emptiness comes from.

He pushes past Liam into the house ignoring his indignant squawk, only to almost collide with Mrs. McCall. He jolts back, one arm reaching out reflexively to steady her, but she flinches back. It’s almost imperceptible, but it’s there. They remains frozen like that for a long moment, until she turns on her heels and makes for the kitchen.

Behind him, beyond the door he’s left ajar, he can hear Liam and his mother quietly having an argument. Mrs. McCall is moving stuff around in the kitchen, making noises, but Theo can hear her trying to steady her breathing. Animated voices can be heard from the living room, he recognizes the usual suspects plus what sounds like...Argent? Now that he thinks about it, Liam’s mentioned that he and Mrs. McCall are sort of seeing each other. 

He stands in the hallways, unsure of what to do. He can’t leave, but it seems that he’s not exactly welcome either, now that the threat has been dealt with and his usefulness has run its course.

“Hey.” Corey isn’t invisible, but he can certainly make himself inconspicuous. So much so that he takes him completely by surprise, poking his head from around the corner. Theo barely manages to keep his reaction in check. “You seemed really tired last night, I’m glad you could make it.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” he admits, momentarily taken aback by the fact that indeed Corey means it, that he’s glad for Theo’s presence here. Then again, Corey doesn’t seem one for holding grudges. 

Mason pops up behind him, fingers surreptitiously going to touch his boyfriend wrist and then lacing together with his. He smiles at Corey before turning to Theo, schooling his features in a serious but not overtly hostile expression. “Hey. You, like, totally conked out last night.”

Theo sighs. “So I’ve been told.”

Mason nods a couple of times, lips pressed in a thin line. “I think we’re about ready to call Scott.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Theo can’t quite stop the nervous motion of his fingers tapping against his thigh. “Mrs. Geyer is here too,” he says finally, unwilling to keep up the pretense of small talk. He’s still tired, despite how much he’s slept, and the lunch is still sitting unpleasant in his belly.

Mason’s eyes dart to the door. “Ah.” He clears his throat. “Are they…?”   
  
“Arguing,” both he and Corey reply at the same time.

As if on cue, the door pushes open and Liam comes in. He looks suitably cowed, but it doesn’t take having Theo’s supernatural sense of smell to figure out that he’s still angry. The deep frown is a dead giveaway.

“I guess she’s staying,” he grumbles, shouldering Theo aside and going past Corey and Mason into the living room.

Mason and Corey exchange worried looks and then they turn to Theo as one, in perfect synchrony. It’s almost creepy.  “What?” He crosses his arms just to have something to do with his hands. “I didn’t even want to come.”

Mason shrugs. “We don’t have to call Scott straight away,” he says, voice rising in tone at the end as if he were asking a question. 

Theo stares at him. 

So long, in fact, that Mason starts fidgeting. “Wow. I was going to update you and Liam’s mom on what I found, but…” he raises his hands, “sorry I even mentioned.” 

Except Theo isn’t angry, or even annoyed. Mason hasn’t been openly hostile towards him in a while, but from there to being so...considerate is probably too much of a word for it, but still. Not towards Theo.

“I’d love to hear it!” Mrs. Geyer smiles at Mason and goes past them, accompanied by Mrs. McCall. 

She doesn’t even glance at Theo, but he doesn’t miss the wide berth she gives him. “This is Liam’s mother, Mrs. Geyer,” she says to the room at large. “Lori, Alec and Nolan you already know. Lori and Alec are werewolves. That one is Chris Argent.”

Theo watches as Mrs. Geyer nods and smiles to everyone and, only when she and Mrs. McCall are sat on the smaller sofa, he follows Mason and Corey in the room. Liam is sitting on the single armchair, looking down at his shoes, so tense his muscles look ready to snap. He goes to stand next to the armchair, leaning on it with a hand grasping its back. He taps his pointer finger on the back of Liam's shoulder, lightly so it doesn't call attention to them.

He doesn't say anything, but Liam seems to guess the unspoken question when he shoots him a glance and nods after only a moment's hesitation. "I'm—" he frowns, eyes scanning Theo up and down as much as they can when they're so close, "are those my clothes?"

Inexplicably, Theo's feels his cheek get warm. This won't do, he uses to be in more control of his body. He takes the pretense to study his current attire as an excuse to look away. He smooths a hand down Liam's hoodie. "Well, if _ someone  _ hadn't clawed the other one to hell..."

"You hit me with a  _ table _ !"

"Because you were doing your best to eviscerate me! And besides, you don't even remember it."

Mason clears his throat loudly.

"Yeah, because you might have given me brain damage."

Somebody is snickering, it sounds like Lori.

"With your hard head—"

"Guys!" Mason yells.

They freeze and turn to the others, who are staring at them with a mix of amused, exasperated and confused looks.

"If you're quite finished with your weird bickering..." Mason gives them a pointed look and then raises the laptop he's clutching. It looks like it might be the one from last night, but Theo can't be quite sure. "I have a presentation to make." There are a couple of ill-concealed groans from the sofa where Lori, baby wolf and baby hunter are sitting and someone mutters something that sounds like 'not again', but Theo doubts Mason's human hearing's picked it up. 

Mason goes to stand in a spot where both Theo and Mrs. Geyer can easily see him, which isn't an easy feat as they're sitting at opposite sides of the room. "So. I haven't been able to go through everything we've found, but with Corey's help," here the two of them exchange a disgustingly sweet glance, that has even Mrs. Geyer react with an eye roll, "I managed to get the gist of it. Which is good since apparently I have to give it back to the Sheriff because evidence or whatever."

Argent snorts from his corner, where he's looming protectively over Mrs. McCall. It's the first sound Theo's heard him make. "I don't see how he could use it," he says. "The chain of custody has been broken already."

"Thanks! That's what I said," Mason points at him. "In any case, I copied the hard disk. Back to us, it seems that the hunters aren't in such big numbers as we previously thought, or rather, get this:  _ weren't _ . Beacon Hills chapter? Gone! We got all of them." He raises his hand for a high-five, but the kids on the couch aren't even looking at him. Corey seems to take pity on him and slaps his raised hand. "Thanks, babe," Mason whispers. Then he clears his throat and goes on, "it seems we all underestimated the influence of the Anuk-ite in this, the hunters themselves did. According to the e-mails and the chat history I found, once Scott got rid of it—"

"Stiles." Only when he finds the object of nine questioning pairs of eyes does Theo realize he's spoken out loud. He looks around the room. Clears his throat. "I mean. Scott said— he mentioned that it was Stiles that actually neutralized the Anuk-ite."

"It was a group effort," Argent says.

"Um," Mrs. Geyer raises a hand. "What's an...anook itay?"

"Anuk-ite," Mason corrects her and then spells it out for her. "It's com—" 

"Cilantro, Mason."

Mason snaps his mouth closed.

Liam groans and thumps his head back. "Mooom, leave him alone. It  _ is  _ complicated." 

If no one is going to jump in, they're going to be here for the rest of the day and Theo can't afford it. He needs to be out of town as soon as possible, before anyone, before Liam starts asking complicated questions he doesn't quite know the answer to. "The Anuk-ite is an ancient shapeshifter that causes an aura of fear and discord around itself," he tells her. "You might remember people behaving oddly a while ago.”

"'Oddly', he says," Liam snorts. On the sofa, the hunter kid is slowly making himself smaller and smaller. "How about, crazy? Homicidal? Or— Oh, sorry, Nolan."

The kid shakes his head.

"Right! Thanks, Theo...I guess,"  Mason clears his throat. "Moving on. While the hunters here are taken care of and soon to be in jail, Monroe is still at large, setting up what are for all intents and purposes hunter cells all over the country." He looks at Lori. "She started in Nevada and we know how that went. From what I could get from the e-mail, she's still over there." 

Liam turns to Theo. "So now we're going to call Scott and Mason is going to repeat the whole thing again—" now the groans from the sofa are perfectly audible even for human ears, judging from Mason's outraged 'hey!' "—and then we're going to decide what to do about this."

For a moment, Theo is absolutely sure he's misheard. There's  _ no _ way that the plan here is to go and find more hunters when they've barely managed to get rid of the ones on their home turf. Then again, this is Scott and Liam — who's basically Scott 2.0, except shorter and with an even shorter fuse — so  _ of course _ they're going to put on their white armor and charge in to fight against windmills, even when the windmills are armed with guns and wolfsbane-coated bullets.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," he tells him. " _ Nothing _ ."

Liam frowns, confused, as if  _ Theo _ were the unreasonable one. He sits up and twists to better look at him. "She's still at large, hurting people like us. We have to stop her."

"I'm not people like you."

Corey may have gained honorary Pack member status thanks to Mason, who in turn gained it thanks to Liam, but Theo isn't delusional enough to think the same will ever apply to him. Telling himself that they'll let him live and leave after helping with the Ghost Riders and the Anuk-ite, easy. Pack member? Never, really. Not in his wildest dreams. He's a lone wolf.

"It's close enough for them."

He's not wrong, but still. "Still, this isn't your fight.” 

"We protect people!"

Here it goes, Scott McCall's brand of altruism. Though perhaps Liam's had it all along anyway, judging by the way his mother has given shelter, food and clothes to a person she barely knows. 

"Okay, let me rephrase that. This isn't  _ my _ fight."

He sees the way Liam’s squares his shoulders, the way his jaw sets. In the way he looks angry but doesn’t smell like it. He’s determined. "Well, I guess you won't fight then!” 

He’s looking up at Theo, but it’s Theo that’s suddenly feeling small.

"I guess I won't.” 

The rest of the room is still, silent, so he doesn’t miss the surprised look on Liam’s face. It gives him a twinge of satisfaction, though small, as he tears his eyes away and leaves the room, leaves the house. Just leaves this fucking place he doesn’t belong to.

Just before the door slams shut behind him, he hears the commotion starting, but he still hears Liam’s soft cursing underneath that, his quick steps as he follows him. The door opens again only a moment later after Theo closed it and Liam is rushing down the steps to his side as he stands on the sidewalk, mentally calculating the shortest way to his truck.

He doesn’t acknowledge Liam, but he remains where he is, glancing off in the distance. Next to him, Liam is growing steadily more nervous, fidgeting and scuffing his shoes on the ground. It’s really hard to keep himself from smirking, but he’s getting used to not being able to have control over his reactions — maybe he’s left more than Josh and Tracy’s power in hell, or wherever he was — and this time he manages by resolutely not looking at Liam and pressing his lips together.

He doesn’t have to keep up the pretense for long, because Liam grabs his arm and forcefully spins him around, actually making him stumble back a step. 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you, okay?” He doesn’t sound sorry at all. He’s yelling in Theo’s face, in fact. Theo arches an eyebrow and Liam flushes in embarrassment. He lets go of his arm and takes a deep breath. When he next speaks, it’s at a normal volume. “I’m sorry.”

Now he  _ does _ look sorry. Still, Theo lets the silence draw, until Liam starts fidgeting again. “Your mom told you to apologize, didn’t she.”

Liam rolls his eyes, but doesn’t disprove his claim. “I still think this is your fight too. It’s everyone’s fight,” Theo opens his mouth to tell him that really no, this has nothing to do with him and his delusions of belonging, but Liam raises a hand to halt him, “but you should have the choice to step back if you want.”

“We all should,” he says before he can think better of it.

Liam shakes his head. “Scott left me in charge.” Right, of course. Because if Scott will fight until the end, then so must Liam. “I’m just—” He snorts and looks back up at Theo, with just the hint of a smile. “We do make a good team, you and I and Corey and Mason.”

“You have that kid and the baby hunter, now. And Lori,” he justs his chin towards the house. “Not one, but two real werewolves. Should be more than plenty enough.”

Liam makes a frustrated huff and opens his mouth, but then seems to think better of it and closes it. He frowns as if Theo were a particularly infuriating puzzle.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Liam shrugs, but the way he says it doesn’t make it that believable. Then he seems to shake himself, straightening up and clearing his voice, before addressing Theo with a tight smile. “So, what are you going to do now that this is finally over?”

“I don’t really have plans,” he says honestly, now that there doesn’t seem to be anything to hide anymore. “Maybe I’ll just travel for a bit.”

Liam’s face falls. “You’re leaving?”

Isn’t this what they’ve been talking about? Does Liam think that he could just walk away from the fight and still stay in Beacon Hills? 

He shrugs. “Not much for me here.” 

The confused frown is back, and Liam himself sounds bewildered. “But…I’m here.”

The small voice, almost hurt, stuns Theo into silence. He’s not blind and he can read people pretty well besides, so it’s not really a secret to him that Liam’s warmed up to him, but there’s a pretty difference between tolerating Theo’s presence and actively seeking it out. 

He’s avoided even mentioning his intentions to leave, for fear someone might try to stop him because they wanted to keep an eye on him, but it’s never occurred to him that someone might actually be sad to see him go.

There’s a heavy sigh. “Never mind,” Liam says. “Kisses and stuff, right?”

They’re talking in a low voice, likely low enough that even the werewolves inside can’t make their words out, so he risks it. “You want to tell me that it could ever be more than that?”

This time, it’s Liam who looks away and stares off. “I don’t know,” he says finally, softly. His heartbeat says he’s being honest, though he sounds disconcerted.

“I don’t have to leave right away,” he says. 

He doesn't even know if he’s being honest or not, at this point. This whole scene happening right now, Liam’s dejected demeanor, the way things have been between them in the past few days, these are all reasons for leaving. On the other hand, after getting that power bank he’s pretty broke. And on a third metaphorical hand, one that he tries to ignore, kisses and stuff start sounding like something worth staying for, even if it doesn’t lead to anything more than that.

“I’ll see if I can get that job at Sinema, get some cash and then…” he trails off. There’s nothing he can promise, not even if his word meant anything at all.

It seems to be good enough for Liam. He nods, lips in a tight line, his face the same determined look from five minutes ago, when he yelled at Theo. “Okay. That works,” he says, as if Theo actually had promised. 

They stand in silence, facing each other, for a long moment. Theo feels Liam’s fingers reaching out, brushing against his, index finger hooking Theo’s middle one. His whole body’s thrumming in anticipation, but Liam doesn’t lean forward, he doesn’t move to grab him, the only touch remains that flimsy connection between them.

Then again, they’re standing in front of Scott’s house, in plain view of anyone who may be observing through the window. Liam’s standing in front of him, so that their hands are obscured from view, but anything more...vigorous would certainly catch people’s attention.

Theo retreats, one step and then he makes to take away his hand too, but Liam is quick to snatch his wrist and stop him. He’s about to ask him what his deal is, since now the people inside can definitely see that—

His wrist is turned so that his hand is now palm up, Liam’s other hand comes out of his pocket with something and slaps it on Theo’s waiting hand, before finally letting go of his wrist. Theo closes his fingers around it and even before he checks, he feels the familiar shape of Liam’s pocket knife.

It’s ridiculous, of course, if Theo wants to break into Liam’s windows, he certainly doesn’t need it. Still, he wraps his fingers tightly around it and puts it away in his own pocket, his heart loud to his own ears and, he’s sure, to Liam’s.

Liam’s heart is beating just as fast, though, when he points vaguely in the direction of the house, his eyes never leaving Theo’s. “I have to talk to Scott and,” he shrugs. “See you later?”

“Sure.”

“Okay.” Liam nods but doesn’t move. “I’m—yeah.”

“Liam.”

“Right!” Liam jolts up and hurries up the steps. He turns on the last one, “hey—”

“I’ll see you later,” Theo cuts him off. He might not even be lying.


	17. Until later doesn't always come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.

Liam manages to avoid Mason for three days straight.

What he can’t avoid is lacrosse and by Wednesday, Corey and even Nolan have figured out that there’s something going on with him. It might be the fact that he’s been more vicious than usual during practice, or maybe the fact that he hasn’t been really talking much, except for yelling at Harper, the new kid, for making a stupid mistake.

Or maybe it’s the locker he’s trashed after yelling at said new kid.

It could be anything, really.

He’s avoided Pack Lunch the first two days claiming he was running late for class and on the third he just stuffs his face full of food and talks through it. By the end of it, his shins are still aching despite the werewolf healing, but at least Mason hasn’t actually managed to ask him anything.

By the time he’s home he thinks he’s safe, but he’s barely tossed his backpack in his room and taken off his shoes when his mother calls him downstairs. He hears the extra heartbeat and rushes down the stairs at once. He falters and almost trips over his own feet when he gets halfway down and recognizes Mason’s scent.

He rounds the corner and finds the two of them chatting amiably in the hallway. Mason is smiling, polite as always, so it’s a bit of a shock when he turns to Liam and glares, saying his name icily.

“Sounds like someone’s in trouble,” his mother chuckles. “I’ll leave you guys to it.” She mouths an ‘apologize’ behind Mason’s back. Of course his mom is automatically taking Mason’s side without even knowing anything about the situation and deserting him in his time of need. Mason’s still hasn’t said anything, he just keeps glaring at Liam.

He sighs. “Wanna go upstairs?”

Mason brushes past him and stomps up the stairs. Liam follows at a slower pace, racking his brain to come up with something, anything, he can use to distract Mason from asking questions he’s likely not ready to answer, not now, not in ten years, not ever.

When he finally reaches his room, Mason is sitting at the foot of his bed, in ‘his spot’, arms crossed over his chest and glare still on.

He studiously avoids looking at him and goes to turn on the XBox and the TV. He grabs the two controllers and tosses one to Mason. It bounces off his chest and falls to the ground, landing on the carpet with a soft thump.

Liam sighs and turns off both console and TV. Then he sits down on the floor, still clutching the controller just to have something to do with his hands. He looks up at Mason, expectantly. “So?”

“So? So?!” He sputters, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Liam!”

“What?!”

“You’ve been avoiding me for three days!”

Liam sighs and slumps down, his chin digging into his chest. “I know,” he mutters. “Sorry.”

“You’ve been angry, Corey told me,” Mason goes on, softly. He doesn’t sound nor smell angry now. Just worried. “What’s going on, Liam? Some new threat? The full moon isn’t for another week.”

“Theo left.”

Even without super hearing, you could hear the sound of a pin drop in the silence that follows. Of course. Because Liam’s an idiot and he actually said out loud.

“Oh,” Mason finally manages. “Like...for good?”

Liam looks up at him and he just looks confused, maybe concerned, but he doesn’t seem to be questioning the fact that Theo’s leaving upsets Liam. This is because Mason is amazing and the best friend one could ever want.

“I think so?” He shrugs. “I’m not sure. He didn’t leave a message, I tried calling him, but…” The first time, on the night after the Pack meeting, Liam called when Theo failed to show up. The phone rang and rang but he never picked up. On subsequent calls — and there have been many, at all times of the day and night — the phone was switched off. “I even went to Sinema to ask, but he hasn’t been there. He was supposed to have the job interview on Monday.”

“That sucks.”

Mason is always capable of perfectly summing up a situation, when he wants. Liam nods in agreement. It sucks. It sucks indeed. That night, the way Theo acted, like a caged animal, rearing to go…it should’ve been all clear in retrospect, but he really thought he was going to show up anyway, he smelled— and the way his heart sped up— Liam really thought they’d spend at least the night together.

“I know you two were getting closer, but maybe it’s for the best?” The growl tears out of Liam’s throat, sudden and taking them both by surprise. Mason statles back, raising his hands in peace. “Woah! I only meant that, you know, maybe he didn’t want to stay in Beacon Hills after the whole killing Scott thing and— and his sister. There’s not much here for him.”

Hearing almost the exact same words being addressed to him again just puts fuel on the fire of Liam’s anger. He growls again, louder this time, and pushes to his feet. He starts pacing the room, breathing heavily through his nose, trying to get the anger back down to acceptable levels. The loud crack of plastic and the feeling of the controller crumbling in his hands tells him that he’s not really successful.

He stares down at the mess of ruined electronics in his hands. “Man, these things cost a fortune,” he groans and sinks down on the bed, next to Mason, tossing the ruined controller over his back. “He said the same thing. About there not being anything for him here.”

“There you go,” Mason pats his knee. “Though I have to say that the not leaving a message and not answering your calls thing is a bit of a dick move. But still, this is Theo we’re talking about.”

Liam sighs and lies back. His shoulder lands painfully on the controller and he pushes it away with an annoyed groan.

Mason twists around so he can look at him. “Was this why you were avoiding me?” He sounds puzzled. “I mean, I get you being angry, but—”

“Do you think I’m hot?” Mason, in the middle of speaking, gapes at him. “Like, am I good looking?”

Mason blinks. “Liam, you’re super hot,” he says carefully. Seriously. “Were you not my straight best friend and were I not in a happy, exclusive relationship, I’d totally look you up.”

Okay that’s maybe a little too much and more than Liam ever wanted to know. “A yes would have been enough,” he frowns. “You didn’t have to be weird about it.”

Mason shakes his head in disbelief. “You’re the one being weird about this!” He throws his hands out, as if to encompass the whole room. “Why are you so unsure about your looks all of a sudden? Weren’t we talking about Theo?”

“We’re talking about Theo.” He raises his arms, crossing them at the wrists and laying his head on them. He contemplates the ceiling. One of his pillows still smells faintly like Theo, despite the fact that he stripped the bed and changed the sheets yesterday. “I know I’m a good kisser. And Hayden never complained about any of the—bedroom stuff. She seemed pretty satisfied and she would’ve told me otherwise.”

“Okay, now I’m confused.”

That’s okay though, Liam is mostly talking for his own benefit. “And he seemed to enjoy the kissing, so I really don’t get it, why he would just leave. When we had...you know...a standing engagement.” He shrugs, but the fact that he’s currently lying on his arms makes the gesture awkward. He raises his head to look at Mason.

Mason who’s staring at him like he’s just announced he’s going to give away all his belonging, shave his head and join a nunnery. “No, Liam. I don’t.” He frowns and shakes his head. “I’m sorry, did you just— ‘He’? Are you coming out to me in some weird way?”

Liam snorts. “Not really. I mean, maybe? I don’t know. That’s not the point anyway.” It does seem pointless now that Theo’s not here. What is he supposed to tell Mason? The guy I like smelled like he was really into me too, but he’s just skipped town.

“What is then?”

Well, he might as well. If today’s of any indication, Mason is just going to glare at him and refuse to play videogames until he spills the beans. That and until he buys a new controller. Man, those things do cost a fortune.

“Theo and I…” He clears his throat and pointedly doesn’t look at Mason. “We sort of had a thing. Almost.”

It feels weird, saying it out loud. Whatever’s happened has only happened a couple of times, nothing serious enough to be called an actual relationship. Not that it would’ve necessary been one anyway, not when they are barely friends. Or at least, that’s the impression Liam’s had, like they could’ve been friends given time to build bridges, but now that option’s been taken completely off the table.

Those two times were real enough for him, though, and he’s pretty sure the same was for Theo. He didn’t dream about the way Theo’s voice trembled or how fast his heart was beating the night when Ms. Jones got him with the mountain ash net and the wolfsbane dart. Reading Theo’s been much easier lately, he’s not the same person that went into the ground. Liam would never be attracted to a monster, no matter how hot he looks. He hopes that Mason knows that.

There’s only silence. It stretches out for so long that Liam’s afraid of what he’ll find when he looks up. It turns out that Mason’s been gaping at him the whole time.

“What,” he manages, finally, in a croak.

“Why are you so surprised? You said it yourself, we got closer.”

“I didn’t mean this close!” He takes a deep breath. “Okay, right. Sorry. I’ll be supportive best friend now...Still, Theo?”

“Mase!”

“Right, right. Sorry,” when he looks at Liam, he does have his ‘supportive best friend’ face on. “So you and Theo, huh?”

“Not really.” Liam sighs and turns on his side, facing Theo’s pillow. He only slept here once and it was ages ago, that pillow really has no business smelling like Theo at all. He grabs it and throws it away. It hits the far wall and falls to the ground. Mason observes its trajectory without saying anything. “We just kinda kissed a couple of times and he spent the night, but just to sleep. Nothing happened. And then he...left.”

“That sucks.”

Mason truly has a way with words.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Mason, of course, tells Corey.

Liam doesn’t even know why he feels so surprised really, he should know by now that anything he tells Mason will eventually find its way to the other half of the couple. It’s a package deal, he supposes, and at the end of the day it doesn’t really bother him.

What actually bothers him is that they not only force-invite him to their upcoming tunnel mapping date on Sunday, but they anticipate it to Thursday — a school night! — because apparently he’s that pathetic. Any other time, Liam would have been ecstatic that finally his authority as stand-in Alpha is being properly recognized and that Corey and Mason aren’t going down dark and damp tunnels by themselves. That’s what they tell him any way, but he knows they only offered to keep an eye on him and keep his mind off things.

Maybe they’re afraid he’ll start moping around like when Hayden left. It’s not like he’s heartbroken, though, and Theo definitely isn’t Hayden.

In the end, he still says yes if only to shut them up.

Of course, of all the tunnels they could’ve picked that day, they picked the one Liam had been exploring with Theo. Liam can see the exact moment Mason realizes it, the way his eyes bulge out and his heartbeat picks up.

“Oh!” He works his mouth, but nothing comes out.

Corey gives him a look and then continues for him. “We should have realized...” his lips twist in grimace. “Sorry.”

He waves their worry away as he stares at the place where the truck was parked. He can still see its shape in the way the grass is disturbed. It’s gone now, though. Obviously.

He frowns.

Mason looks at him curiously. “What is it?”

“Nothing, I just…” But there it is again. He trails off and closes his eyes, smelling the air, trying to find traces of that peculiar scent he’s noticed.

He finally finds the threads of it and when he opens his eyes, he’s not surprised to find it comes from the place where Theo’s truck used to be. He slowly makes his way there, Mason and Corey just behind him, echoing his every step.

He’s now standing next to where the driver’s door would be if the truck were still here, sniffing the air and trying to make sense of what he is in fact smelling, when he sees it.

Liam’s pocket knife is lying in the grass, only a few inches from Liam’s left foot. The smell is stronger here too. He crouches to retrieve it. Theo put it in his pocket Sunday night, maybe it fell out as he retrieved his keys. No, Theo would’ve heard it fall to the ground, wouldn’t he? So far, he’s assumed he kept it as a sort of memento, like something romantic, but he doesn’t think Theo’s discarded it like this, not when he knows how much it means to Liam.

A cold dread slithers down his back. “Something’s happened to Theo.”

He feels more than sees the worried look exchanged by Mason and Corey, the rustle of clothes, the worry in their scents.

“Liam…”

Liam shoots to his feet, clutching the pocket knife in one hand. He’s clenching his fist around it so tightly that he can distinctly feel the ridges and the groves of its handle. “Look, I’m not a complete emotional idiot, okay?” He growls. The hints of whatever he’s smelling are messing with his senses, he wouldn’t be surprised if he were wolfing out right now. “I know he was saying goodbye in that dramatic way he has of doing things, but...This feels wrong.” He opens his hand to show them the knife. Corey may not know, but Mason certainly recognizes it. “I lent it to him for...reasons. He wouldn’t leave it so carelessly. I don’t think. And this smell…”

He sniffs the air, trying to place it. Opposite him, Corey is doing the same, with a frown. They seem to come to a realization at the same time. Corey’s eyes fly open and he stares at Liam, horror dawning on his face.

Mason looks between the two of them. “What?”

“Wolfsbane,” they reply in unison.

Mason takes a deep breath. Pinching the bridge of his nose. He stays like that for a long moment, then he visibly shakes himself and nods. “Okay,” he tells Liam.

“...Okay?”

Mason rolls his eyes. “Yes, Liam. Okay,” he repeats, enunciating the words slowly, as if Liam were missing some obvious meaning in his tone. “Theo’s likely in danger, I believe you. You’re my best friend and I love you, even if you do have the worst taste in men. First Brett and now Theo?”

Something garbled that only vaguely resembles human language escapes Liam’s mouth. He chokes on it and then clears his throat before trying again. “Brett wasn’t— he was an infuriating— gah! No!”

He’s not very successful on the second time around, either, but then he also realizes that it’s the first time he’s thought about Brett with anything other than sadness and anger, so when he feels the twinge of annoyance as he perfectly pictures his arrogant smirk from memory, he supposes that’s progress.

He inhales deeply and then exhales. “Brett was never a thing,” he says, firmly and hopefully convincingly. “And you were totally staring when Theo was naked.”

Mason exchanges a disbelieving glance with Corey before staring back at Liam. “Well. Duh,” he shrugs. “Just because he’s built it doesn’t mean he’s not an asshole.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

They got there with Mason’s mom’s car, so in the time it takes for them to get back into town, Liam has enough time to set up an extraordinary Pack meeting at Scott’s place, have a lengthy debate on whether they should notify the senior Pack members that ends in a ‘not until we have more information’, order some pizza for everyone, as well as invite their unofficial Police liaison, i.e. Parrish.

All that and in the end they get to Scott’s house to cold pizza.

Also, both Argent and Melissa are there too — she must have taken some days off from work now that he seems to be back for a while — and he’s not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, Argent is certainly an asset when it comes to track down stray supernaturals, on the other, both he and Melissa are ill-disposed towards Theo, to put it mildly. Not without just cause, of course, but still. If Liam’s right, Theo has been missing for at least four days, maybe five, and there can’t be any hesitation when it comes to finding him and bringing him back.

He takes in all the people staring at him, waiting for him to say the reason why they’re all reunited so soon after the hunters have been taken care of. They’re all tense and attentive, likely expecting news of yet another, terrible threat, because this is Beacon Hills, after all.

The fingers of his left hand close around the knife in his pocket, feeling the grooves. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “Theo’s been missing since Sunday night, Monday morning at the latest,” he says. “I think he’s been kidnapped.”

He doesn’t know for sure, but why the wolfsbane then? Why would Theo leave the knife for Liam to find? Assuming he’s not dropped it by mistake.

He’s calmer now that he’s finally said it and he can open his eyes. He didn’t know what to expect, after all Theo is hardly anyone’s favorite. Even Liam himself, who’s certainly been the closest to him in the past week or so, finds him frustrating and annoying most of the time.

The faces of his Pack seem dismayed, though, worried even. Lori jumps up from the sofa and runs to give him a hug, Nolan is biting his lip, Alec has a deep frown. Even Argent and Melissa exchange a worried glance, but when she turns it on Liam, he realizes they’re not really worried for Theo.

“Liam…” she starts, uncertain, “I know the two of you became friends of a sort, but...are you sure he didn’t leave on his own?”

The spike of pure, hot rage that shoots through him at that takes him by surprise. Lori must have felt it, maybe in his heartbeat or in his scent, because she takes a step away and, keeping her hands on his shoulders, she gives him a worried look. “Liam?”

“He didn’t.” He barely manages to push the words past his clenched teeth. The fact that that’s what he’s been thinking up until less than an hour ago does nothing to ease down the anger or the sense of guilt. He should’ve looked for him the moment Theo’s phone got turned off.

Now even Argent is giving him that half pitying, half worried look. “When he stormed off on Sunday he certainly seemed ready to leave,” he says. “What makes you think that this isn’t just him being...well, himself. He did disappear for a while after the hospital, didn’t he?”

That doesn’t even count, he was off destroying the Dread Doctors’ research like Scott asked him and then he probably spent who knows how many nights sleeping in his truck, because god forbid Theo Raeken asks for help.

“Liam!” Lori’s worried cry brings him back to himself. He blinks and follows her eyes to his right hand. His claws are out and he’s been clenching his fist so hard he’s pricked his palm with them.

It takes all he has to will open the hand and the claws to retreat. He takes a deep breath. “Wolfsbane,” he says. Then he looks up at Argent and repeats it louder. “It smelled like wolfsbane. Where his truck was parked on Sunday. And I think he left something for me to find.” He takes the knife out to show them. “Sunday night, we…talked,” he tries to keep his tone neutral, but he feels like his heart and the slight hesitation are giving everything away. “I lent it to him. He would’ve given it back before leaving.”

Argent scratches his beard, frowning. “The wolfsbane is indeed worrying,” he makes a thoughtful sound. “Did you find any—”

Another heartbeat at the door and the smell of ashes and fire and Liam knows Parrish has finally arrived even before the doorbell rings.

Melissa hurries over to open the door and indeed in comes Parrish. He nods at her and then follows her into the living room.

He looks somewhat sheepish. “Sorry I’m late, I had to sort something out,” he looks at Liam. “Why am I here?”

“Theo’s been kidnapped,” Liam blurts out.

Parrish’s eyebrows climb high into his forehead, but at least he doesn’t say anything. When Melissa lets out a deep sigh, he glances at her, curious.

“Liam thinks Theo’s been kidnapped,” she tells Parrish. “He might have left on his own. The hunters have been dismantled, there’s no one else—” She trails off with a frown. “Parrish?”

Parrish pinches the bridge of his nose, his face contorted in a grimace. He sighs and lets the hand fall. “The charges against Hannah Jones were dropped on Saturday,” he says. “She’s gone.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

‘Theo is technically dead,’ Parrish said.

‘We have no way to enter him into the system,’ Parrish added then.

‘Tell you what, you find me some proof that he’s actually in danger, I’ll work something out,’ Parrish concluded.

Then the rest Liam didn’t actually hear, because he stormed out and now here he is, punching one of the trees in Scott’s back garden. Melissa probably won’t be happy at all, but it’s not like she likes Liam in the first place and he figures she’d rather he punches a tree than Parrish on the off chances that he hellhounds out and sets the whole house on fire.

Except punching the tree only reminds him of another night, just a week or so ago and yet so long ago, when the worst scenario was Liam moving out of Beacon Hills.

When it was just he and Theo and the forest. They stayed out for an hour or so, looking at the stars and not saying much if anything at all. When it had felt like Liam’s last night here.

He throws another punch, but it doesn’t have enough force and the wrist is positioned all wrong. Instead of the crack of the bark, there’s a crack from his hand and a sharp pain in his knuckles. He grunts and lets himself fall to a sitting position, back against the tree and cradling his injured hand to his chest.

A moment later, Lori pokes her head out the back door. “Is it safe now?” She’s only half-serious, though, judging by the small grin.

Liam shrugs and she walks over, sliding down the tree to sit next to him. She glances at his hand but doesn’t mention it. “Mason is going to take care of tracking his phone GPS,” she says. “I’ll go over to Hannah’s place with Alec and Nolan and see if she’s left anything there. Mr. Argent suggested that we go around gas stations and places like that with a picture of Theo.”

He nods. “That’s a good idea.”

Except, do they even have a picture of Theo? He used to be friends with Scott and Stiles, but that was years ago and somehow he doubts that the Dread Doctors kept any mementos and even then, according to both Scott and Theo, everything of theirs is gone.

Lori must have confused his thoughtful silence for something else, because she bumps their shoulders together and smiles softly at him. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him,” she says.

“It’s been almost a week,” he says, evenly. “He survived being tortured by hunters, if he were alive he’d probably have escaped by now.” Lori draws a sharp breath, her heart spiking. Of course, right. Liam is a fucking idiot who opens his mouth before thinking. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s—” she shakes her head. She draws him in in an awkward one-arm hug. “We’ll find him.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Mason gets to work on the GPS straight away, while Corey volunteers to accompany Lori, Alec and Nolan.

“If she werewolf-proofed the house, we can’t let Nolan go in by himself,” he says.

It’s a sound reasoning, still Liam makes to follow them, only to be stopped by Melissa.

“You look a little...wound up,” she says. The understatement of the century. “Why don’t we clean that hand of yours and then I drive you back home.”

“My hand is fine,” he mutters. He wiggles his fingers to show her.

The look she gives him doesn’t allow for much protesting. He groans, but in the end he nods and follows her to her car. He’s definitely not looking forward to being alone with her. He’s definitely not looking forward to seeing his parents, either.

She doesn’t say anything for most of the drive. In fact, they’re about only a mile away from his house and Liam thinks he’s got away with it. Obviously the universe likes to prove him wrong.

“You and Theo,” she starts, and Liam almost dies then and there. There’s no way she’s figured it out. Even Lori, who’s perceptive, knows Liam well and is werewolf doesn’t seem to have quite figured it out. “You’re...friends, now?” She goes on, and Liam starts breathing again.

He clears his throat and looks out the window. Just a few more blocks and he’ll get out of this. “I guess.”

“Are you sure?” She isn’t using her mom voice, for which Liam should be grateful he supposes, but she still sounds worried. He sees her glance at him out of the corner of his eye. She lets out a frustrated sigh when he doesn’t deign with a reply. “What I mean, Liam, is...you should keep in mind what he’s capable of.”

“The same could be said of Peter Hale,” he mutters and then, before he can think better of it, the words tumble out of his lips, “or Chris Argent.”

Melissa’s heartbeat spikes and the fake leather covering the wheel creaks when her grip tightens. She draws a long breath. It’s not his business, he knows, but he’s heard stories from Stiles and Scott’s silences haven’t exactly done much to allay any wild theories Liam might have regarding exactly how a werewolf hunter got to be so chummy with an Alpha werewolf.

“Touché,” Melissa says, a touch of self-deprecation in her voice.

They’ve reached Liam’s house by now and she’s pulling over into park right in front of his steps, so Liam can only offer a muttered ‘I’m sorry’ in way of apology. Not that he’s sorry he’s made his point, but perhaps he could have afforded a little more tact. Then again, Melissa knows he and tact don’t even live in the same ZIP code.

She waves away his apology with a smile. “You have a point.”

Yes, thanks Melissa, he really does. He’s the first to say Theo’s asshole — well, okay, the first is probably Mason, but he’s certainly a close second. Maybe third, after Stiles — but, “I know who he was,” he tells her, “but you don’t know who he is now. He might not be a good person yet, but he’s trying to be one.”

She gives him a long look, but then nods. “I saw that in the hospital,” she says, “and I saw how worried he was when you ran off after your teacher without telling anybody, it’s just—”

There’s a rush of emotion coming from her, overwhelming, sadness and grief and rage too. Liam scrambles to unbuckle his belt and reaches for her just as she punches the wheel. She manages to hit it a couple of times more before he gets his arms around her. It’s awkward, she still has the seatbelt on and well, it’s Scott’s mom.

He really hopes she isn’t going to cry.

She takes a few shaky breaths and when he hears her pulse slowing down back to normal, he draws back, slowly. Her eyes are dry, thank god.

“He killed Scott,” she says, “and I can’t—”

“I know.”

“But,” she nods, “you’re right. People do change sometimes. I’ll try to keep the urge of tasing him at bay.”

He snorts. “Yeah, I get that. I punch him all the time.” She raises an eyebrow at him and he gives himself something to do by scratching his nose. “Mostly on accident. He’s really annoying. It’s fine though, he heals.”

“Right.” She nods at the house. “How about you go in and let your parents know, since they weren’t at the meeting.”

Apparently, the grown up talk is over, because Liam feels like dragging his feet in the metaphorical ground. “Do I have to?” He groans.

“Get out of my car, Dunbar.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
His parents seem to be very understanding, but apparently not understanding enough to let him skip school on Friday to look for Theo.

“It’s a police matter,” his father says, “I don’t see how you could help.”

Liam lets out a frustrated growl. “I’m better than the K-9 units, at least!” He slumps back in the sofa.

He can’t tell them that the police is only looking into this unofficially, of course, because then he’d have to explain why. It’s not his secret to tell, he tells himself, and that’s partly true. Theo’s past belongs to him and the people he hurt, no one else. Still, there’s the vague sense of shame whenever he thinks about the day Kira sent him into the ground. The terror in his voice as he clawed the ground was genuine, the way his voice cracked.

“Let the police do their work,” his mom says. Then a moment later, she adds, “you—we can go look after school and during the weekend.”

“And I’ll keep an eye open at work,” his father adds.

Maybe telling telling them hasn’t been such a bad idea. He nods, tight-lipped and pulls them into a hug.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Mason tracks Theo’s phone to an area north of town, where’s there’s only the forest and a single road running through it.

Using software he swore isn’t technically illegal, he’s managed to pinpoint its location to an area of a hundred yards or so. There’s nothing in a radius of a hundred yards or so. There’s nothing in a radius of miles. It’s clear that the phone has been dumped, but still they spend hours looking for it after school, on Friday.

It’s already late in the night when Nolan’s excited shout calls them all to where he’s looking down in the ditch. The beam of his torchlight is pointing at a rectangle of plastic at the bottom of the ditch.

It’s muddy and the screen is cracked, but Liam recognizes it at once. He reaches for it but freezes when Mason grabs his wrist.

He turns to look at him and gets a ziplock bag shoved in his face, instead.

“To preserve the evidence,” Mason explains. “Maybe it could be dusted for prints.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

The Sheriff stares at the ziplock bag he’s just dropped on his desk for a long moment. When he finally looks up at Liam, he gives him a sympathetic look that’s verging too much on pitying to be genuine.

“He could’ve ditched it himself.”

His voice is soft and kind and Liam wants to roar and scream and scream, but he just clenches his jaws shut so hard the muscles in his face start to hurt.

The Sheriff sighs. “I’ll have it run for prints.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

  
While they’re at the Sheriff’s Station, they also manage find a picture of Theo. It’s actually Parrish that comes up with the idea of checking the footage from the jail cells. Ever since the switch to digital several years ago, the archived records they keep span months and it’s likely they have some footage from when Theo was there.

They come up with several grainy close-ups of Theo’s face. It’s not ideal, but he’s recognizable and it’s all they have, besides.

They split in pairs, so that everyone has someone with super hearing and, armed with Theo’s pictures and a map of every gas and service station in the county, they spend the weekend asking people if they’ve seen Theo. They have some cover stories set up, ranging from private investigators looking for a long lost relative, to ‘my cousin took my car and I’m trying to find him before calling the cops’ to bounty hunters even.

By Sunday evening they’ve become all a blur, though, coalescing in a weird ‘my long lost cousin stole a car bounty hunting’ or something ridiculous like that. Liam’s barely slept and has been driving around with Argent non stop — Liam’s choice of partner, it can’t be said that Argent isn’t a focused and purpose-driven individual — but Sunday has less than five hours left in it and they haven’t found out anything yet. He’s seen Argent shooting some worried looks his way in the past hour or two, so Liam must look just as bad as he feels. They still have a few places to cross off their map, though, so Argent doesn’t say anything and just drives.

Another reason Liam’s chosen him as his partner, not a man of many words.

Just as they’re pulling into the deserted gas station, Liam’s phone in his lap buzzes. He scrambles for it, unlocking it, but as soon as sees the message, he slumps back in his seat.

Argent throws the car in park and nods at his phone. “Bad news?”

“Mason and Corey are done,” he says. “Nothing.”

Argent nods thoughtfully, but then he slaps his arm. “Well, we’re not done,” he says and points at the shop next to the gas station. Liam doesn’t hear any other heartbeats inside except the one that must belong to the attendant.

He must look really down if Argent is trying to cheer him up.

The door chimes as they come in, but the guy behind the counter — in his mid twenties, smelling of cigarette smoke and boredom — barely even acknowledges them. He jolts up when Argent slaps the photo on the counter, just under his nose.

The guy — Joey, his upside-down name tag says — straightens up and glances down it as Argent starts with the private investigator story, but Liam isn’t really listening, because he’s just heard it. The jump in his heartbeat when he saw the picture — recognition — and then another one when he shrugs and says ‘nah’ when he’s asked whether he’s seen Theo recently — a lie.

Liam is already over the counter, his hands tugging on Joey’s collar. “You’re lying,” he growls. He’s on the verge of wolfing out, but he doesn’t really care at this point.

The guy flails, trying push him away, but there’s no way he can break out of Liam’s tight grip and he only manages to knock over the merchandise on display, pens and gums scattering and tumbling to the floor. Liam pushes up to his knees on the counter, lifting the guy off his feet. The stench of fear is overwhelming and he’s babbling something Liam can’t hear past the ringing in his ears.

“Liam!”

A hand takes hold of his shoulder and pulls. Even if Argent is only as strong as a human, he still manages to make him lose his balance. He lets go of Joey, who goes crashing down behind the counter, and stumbles back, landing on his feet on the customer side of the counter.

He blinks and takes in the scene, the things scattered at their feet, the guy red and scared and looking on the verge of crying, Argent with a deep frown, hand instinctively going to where Liam knows he keeps his gun.

Not that he would shoot Liam.

“I’m—I’m calling the police!” Joey yells at them. The threat would be more believable if his hand weren’t shaking so badly he drops his phone three times.

Argent reaches over and grabs his phone. Joey yelps loudly and stumbles back, crashing into the rows of cigarette packs. A pack of Marlboro bounces off his head and then falls to the ground.

Argent retreats slowly, keeping his eyes on the guy, he lays the phone gently on the counter and then reaches inside his jacket. Joey flinches so hard that the cigarette rack shakes. However, when Argent whips out a couple of hundred dollar bills and taps them on the counter, his whole demeanor changes as if a switch has been flipped.

“Oh, sure, I’ve seen the guy,” he shrugs and straightens up. His fear is completely gone and his heart is slowing down to a normal pace.

The abrupt change is so shocking that it calms Liam’s anger down, too. Argent shoots him a look and he nods, but he stays where he is, letting him take care of the conversation.

“When was this?”

Joey frowns. “It was during my night shift, so must have been Sunday night, or early Monday morning,” he says. “No one ever stops here, so it stuck with me. That and that guy didn’t look too good.”

It feels as if the blood just froze in his veins. A cold shiver runs down his spine and gravity feels much stronger than usual, pulling at his limbs. “What do you mean?” He croaks out.

Joey seems to remember just now that he’s still here. He shoots him an alarmed look, but recovers quickly into his bored expression. Liam would be impressed if he weren’t picturing Theo in all sorts of horrible states, stabbed and shot and bleeding and dying.

“Yeah, I mean,” he scratches the back of his head, “his sister said he was sick. She didn’t look well either. Black eye, busted nose.”

“S-Sister?” He blurts out. Tara’s dead, isn’t she? She died years ago there’s no way it was her.

“What did she look like?”

“Hmm, in her thirties, I guess. Brown hair, she looked hot, I suppose,” he shrugs. “If you like that kind of thing.”

Liam frowns. “...women?”

“People, really.” Joey sighs. He frowns, thoughtfully. “She had a mole,” he adds then, probably realizing ‘brown-haired, hot woman’ isn’t much of a description. He taps his chin. “Right here.”

Liam’s head snaps up, eyes going to Argent’s and finding an unspoken question there. “It’s her,” he confirms. All breath rushes out of him. “It’s her.”

Oblivious, Joey nods. “Yeah, so,” he goes on, “Sunday night this car stops by and this guy,” he taps the picture on the counter, right on Theo’s forehead, “he, like, falls out of it, he looked really bad. Pale, sweaty. He wanted to go to the toilet, I figured, but he didn’t make it. He was sick all over in front of the shop.” He pulls a disgusted face. “His sister grabbed him and they left quickly after that. They didn’t even buy anything and I was stuck with the clean up. It was way gross, all black and stuff.” He frowns and looks up at Argent, worried. “You don’t think it was contagious? Like, Ebola or some shit?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from The Cure's "Cut here".


	18. Going, going, gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad things happen. Oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence and non-consensual drug use (I guess wolfsbane counts as a drug?).

Theo tests the weight of Liam’s knife in his pocket, feels the grooves and the bumps of the handle pattern. It’s small, really, and it barely tugs at the pocket of his borrowed sweatpants, but it’s still far from inconspicuous. It’s something that ties him irremediably to Liam, as unspoken promise binding them together for another few hours, maybe a day, maybe more. His fingers twitch around it.

It weighs him down, it keeps him here, as much as Liam’s confused ‘but...I’m here’ and the barely there connection of their locked fingers.

He can’t afford it.

He sees the shadow out of the corner of his eye, but it’s too late, she’s already too close. He freezes, senses going wild to grab even the minimum amount of information on whomever has just approached from behind him and has taken him by surprise. There’s no sound, no heartbeat, no breathing, no scent.

He raises his hands, pocket knife gripped tightly in his right fist. “I thought you were in jail,” he says and then turns slowly, telegraphing every movement.

Jones is standing in front of him, by the tailgate of his truck. She has a gun pointed straight at his chest and a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. Even in the dim light, she won’t miss at this distance.

Her left hand is closed around what looks like a small glass cylinder. She clenches her fist and it shatters. Suddenly, Theo’s ears are assaulted by her presence. He hears the wind in her hair, the rustling of her jacket as she moves to adjust her stance, each breath taken into her lungs, her heartbeat. It’s unsettling and disorienting in its suddenness.

She raises an eyebrow. “Liam is fine, the Sheriff dropped the charges on the condition I leave Beacon Hills. Which I intend to do.” Her eyes dart to his clenched fist before settling on his again. “Drop it.”

He opens his hand and the pocket knife drops, bounces off his left foot and disappears under the truck. He spares it only the briefest glance, just in time to see the last of it, a gleam of metal in the moonlight.

He takes in Jones’s appearance. She’s prepared and ready to go and while Theo can’t smell it — not like he can smell anything at all from her, it’s like staring at an illusion — she most certainly has some wolfsbane on her. If he’s lucky, she doesn’t know and might assume that it has no effect on him, like mountain ash. That leaves just the gun as the most immediate threat.

With his hands still raised and palms well in sight, he shrugs. “So. Are you going to kill me, then?” He cocks his head. “To what end?”

“This is just for precaution, seeing how our last meeting ended.”

“You were the one with the gun last time,” he manages to keep his voice anger-free, but only just. “And a crossbow.”

“Theo. May I call you Theo?” She doesn’t wait for him to reply and continues. He has a feeling where this is going. “We’re very similar, you and I.”

Right. He’s heard that speech several times, hell, he’s given that speech. Establish a connection, first rule of a con artist. He’s a pro at the earnest voice, the sincere expression, or he used to be, before h— the nightmares, before a kid scared and dying in a hospital.

He can listen to her heartbeat for deception, but the total absence of any scent is throwing him off, and this far he can’t watch her eyes for tells, so he stalls. For what, he’s not sure. Liam might expect him at some point, but it’s going to be hours before he may even begin to get worried. “We really aren’t,” he tells her, “but I’ll play along.”

“Aren’t we?” She cocks her head, as if honestly puzzled by Theo’s rejection of her assessment. “I was under the impression that you’re one of those people who gets things done, no matter the cost.”

“If the cost isn’t mine,” he shrugs. While she might have glimpsed something of him, she hasn't quite caught the whole picture. He’s certainly got much fewer scruples than most people, but he’s little more than an ambitious failure. Not even that ambitious lately, honestly.

“Or Liam’s,” she says, sharply, eyes narrowed and studying him intently for any reaction.

“What do you want?”

She smirks. “Touched a nerve, have I?”

“My arms are getting tired.”

For a moment she seems about to continue on that line of inquiry, but then she shakes her head, slightly, without taking her eyes off of him. He’s managed to outsmart her once, he doesn’t suppose he’ll get another chance now.

“You may have driven the hunters out of Beacon Hills, but what about other packs in danger?” Her grip on the gun tightens slightly, knuckles going white, but her aim never wavers and, fortunately for Theo, her trigger doesn’t slip. “What about _my_ Pack? We were peaceful and perfectly integrated! Nick was a firefighter, he saved lives! And yet, they still gunned him down like one would a rabid dog. They won’t listen to reason and they’ll stop at nothing in order to kill all of you.”

He makes a big show of rolling his eyes. “You’re talking to the wrong person. Scott McCall is the one you want, he’s a sucker for that kind of thing. Regular bleeding heart. I can give you his number.”

“Are you telling me that you wouldn’t do anything in your power to keep them safe?”

“I’m alone in the woods with only a few changes of clothes and a truck to my name, who do you think you’re talking to?” It comes out harsher than he’d like, but it does have the added bonus of seemingly throwing her off for a moment.

She’s ruthless, but she doesn’t strike Theo as someone who can’t be reasoned with, even if her side of the debate has a loaded gun. Desperation is what drove her here, losing an Alpha, a lover and your charge as an emissary all at once must have been devastating. Once upon a time he’d have filed the information away to use as leverage. Once upon a time, a lifetime ago, sympathy was just another weapon in his arsenal. Now, the fingers of his right hand twitch with the need to reach out and touch her to take away some of that pain, to understand it, so he can make it his, so he can piece himself back as a whole person.

First, a dying kid surrounded by his enemies and no one to help.

Now, someone with nothing left.

Maybe they’re not so different, after all.

He makes a fist to resist the temptation of actually reaching out and likely get a bullet in his kneecap for his trouble. “There’s nothing left,” he tells her, softly.

“What?”

“The Dread Doctors’ research. What made me,” he elaborates. “It’s gone. Scott and the others destroyed most of it. I took care of the rest after I...got back.”

Now the shaking is clearly noticeable. “B-But in the tunnels you said—” She stops, her voice breaking. She sounds on the verge of tears, though her eyes are dry. “You’re lying.”

Theo shakes his head. “I was lying then,” he tells her. “I’m sorry,” he adds, after a moment, and the thing is, he’s honest.

He could’ve have taken his chance then, her arm relaxes slightly, gun pointing down and away from him for a split second. He realizes too late, only when the hand holding the gun raises sharply again to aim at his head. “You’re lying _now_!” She’s openly crying, now.

He lets his hands drop to his sides, but he doesn’t make any other movement. “I’m not, and trust me, you don’t want to know what was in those files.”

“But it could help us!”

“I don’t know what you think you know,” he says. “The only thing that research was good for is making monsters.” It’s not strictly true, the Dread Doctors collected plenty of information on all sorts of supernatural entities, sometimes event samples of the entity themselves. Theo’s pretty sure Jones doesn’t want to know that there has been a file on Nick among countless others. In the end, though, the only aim of their experiments was to create monsters. A very specific one.

“I don’t _care_!” She roars. “I don’t care if it turns me in a monster! I don’t care as long as my Pack is safe, as our children are safe. I’ll do anything.”

Children. That certainly complicates things. Theo hasn’t had much first-hand experience with parental love, his own parents having been cut out of his life so early on that he barely remembers them. He’s seen the way Mrs. McCall and Sheriff Stilinski act whenever Scott or Stiles are in danger, and if Jones is anything like them— he has to get rid of her, one way or another.

“The point is moot, I told you there’s no—” In his right pocket, Theo’s phone announces its default call tone out in the dark. He freezes, hand so close to it he can feel the fabric of his borrowed sweatpants vibrate against his fingers.

It’s probably Liam, wondering where he is. Or getting cold feet. But no, he’d probably send a text if that were the case.

“Don’t even think about it.”

They stand still, frozen in a weird stand-off, with the tinny electronic tone shrieking loudly in the silence of the woods.

Eventually, it cuts off.

Jones tilts her head in the direction of the truck. “Get in,” she says, back to her neutral tone.

Theo doesn’t move. “And then what?”

“Then we’re going to go somewhere quiet and sit down so you can tell me everything you remember.”

Theo barks out a laughter. It’s harsh and mocking, bordering on cruel. While getting rid of the research doesn’t seem to have exorcised his sister as he hoped initially, he’s certainly not going to invite more nightmares to his already sleepless nights by rehashing the experiments, the procedures, the subjects. Despite being a failure, he’s mostly benefited from what the Dread Doctors did, but even so there are many memories from those days that his mind seems to have conveniently forgotten, his awareness barely skirting around them without pausing long enough to examine their nature.

There are things buried in there from which even a monster would shy away. He should know, he’s one of those monsters. “No,” he grits out, perhaps giving too much away.

“I’m sorry,” she says.

He blinks at her, confused.

The gun points lower, away from center mass, while her left hand reaches into her jacket pocket. “You should have said yes,” she clarifies.

This time he’s ready. He pivots on his right leg and sprints forward, with the idea of vaulting over the hood and using it as cover. As it is, twisting away is the only thing that saves him from getting a faceful of wolfsbane. Something like a water balloon hits him square in the left shoulder, bursting open in a cloud of purple and fine powder instead of water. The effect is instantaneous, his eyes water and his throat closes around it. He stumbles into the truck and loses his balance, falling down to his hands and knees.

“Hm. I wasn’t sure it’d work,” she sounds genuinely surprised. Perhaps a little disappointed that he’s not some sort of über-werewolf with all of the perks and none of the weaknesses.

He hears her step closer, even with his lungs doing their best to hack and cough their way out of his mouth. He kicks his leg back, connecting with something — a shin, an ankle maybe — and ripping a surprised cry out of her. She curses and stumbles into the truck, but she doesn’t drop her gun.

Theo crawls forward and tries shifting, but the the change doesn’t come, the wolfsbane likely interfering with his abilities. She grabs the back of his hoodie and he kicks again, this time only into empty air. The motion triggers a bout of coughing that leaves him breathless and light-headed and gives Jones enough time to get a proper grip at the back of his collar. He feels her tug back and he knows what’s coming.

“Well, now I don’t really feel that bad about this,” she says before pistol whipping him in the back of his head.

It takes two hits before she manages to actually knock him out. The last thing he’s aware of is the petty satisfaction he feels at the idea of her struggling to get his unconscious and much heavier body into the truck.

  


 

* * *

  
  
  


He comes to face down on the backseats of his truck, hands cuffed behind his back and ankles duct-taped together. His mouth feels like cotton and his throat is so dry with thirst it burns. His first attempt at forming a word is nothing more than a broken croak. It feels like a shard of glass jabbing at his throat.

Among the tests the Dread Doctors performed on their creations, there were some specifically aimed at determining the body’s ability at metabolizing alcohol and other drugs. Theo doesn’t have a great recollection of when those tests were performed on him — it was a long time ago and it had him in a haze most of the time — but the sensation they left behind was quite similar to what he’s feeling now.

He needs water and plenty of it, not only he’s dehydrated, but he needs to get the wolfsbane out of his body. He tries saying Jones’ name again and this time the croaking forms somewhat understandable syllables. No one answers.

He feels a breeze ruffling the hair at the back of his neck. With a twist of his upper body that leaves him out of breath in exertion, he manages to turn on his side and see that the door at his feet is open. It’s still night and Jones is nowhere to be seen in the limited square of sky he can seen. In this position, his arms are now pinned against the backseat and, though he manages to dredge up the last of his strength to wiggle, he’s only moved a few inches before Jones’s pale face appears, eyes darkened by shadows and skin made gray by the light of the moon.

He freezes instantly.

She doesn’t have her gun out, but even so, he won’t be any match for her, not as drugged as he still is, and most certainly not while he’s bound hands and feet and can barely crawl out of an open car.

Jones doesn’t move for a long moment and then, she slowly raises her hands, palms outwards. She takes a tentative step and, when Theo doesn’t move, she takes another. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she says.

Her voice is calm, almost kind. Theo has to wonder if this is one of her abilities as an emissary, Deaton too seems to have this unshakable poise, the warm and sensible tone of voice. His senses are a little muddled from the wolfsbane, but he’d swear she’s being honest; she doesn’t want to hurt him.

She reaches for something on the roof of the truck and comes back with a bottle of water. She shows it to Theo with one hand, while some keys dangle from the other. “Turn around.”

One of her hands closes around his right ankle and he flinches back. She freezes and then slowly raises it again and show the palm to him, unthreatening. Then, she reaches again, much slower this time, making sure to have his attention. She grabs his ankle, gently, and she tugs at the duct tape so it unsticks from the fabric of his sweatpants, leaving a small gap for her thumb to wiggle into. Her other hand moves just as slowly, but something in it flashes in the moonlight, causing a spike in Theo's heartbeat and tearing an involuntary gasp past his lips.

The blade flashes again as it slices through the duct tape and frees him.

Jones gives him a last look, before drawing back and putting the knife away. The moment the blade is gone, Theo makes his move. He kicks out with both feet, getting her in the shoulder and face, causing her to topple backwards. He uses his legs to give himself enough momentum to jackknife himself out of the truck. As soon as he's on his feet, the rush of blood to the head sends him off balance and makes him stumble. He trips on Jones's legs and almost falls flat on her but he manages to keep himself upright, despite the hands cuffed behind his back.

By the looks of it, he only has a few seconds before Jones is back on her feet, so he delivers another kick to her ribs. It's not well-placed and so off-balance it's not as powerful as it could be, but she still goes down, crying out. When one of her hands flies down to cradle her ribs, he sees the blood flowing freely from her nose and can't help a snicker. "I hope I broke your fucking nose," he growls, before hobbling past her.

With the wolfsbane still in his body, his senses are a confused jumble of scents, sounds coming as if underwater, vision swimming and alternating between too bright and too dark. He feels bile rolling up from his stomach and he really, really hopes that he's metabolized the wolfsbane enough to manage a shift. It's slow and painful, but it seems to work.

His wrists, now smaller, slip easily out of the cuffs and he manages to bring his arms forward before they've fully shifted and he drops down in a controlled fall, landing on all fours. His legs — now his hind legs — get tangled in the sweatpants and in the end that's not a set back he can afford. Now that his hands are free, though, he doesn't strictly need to be a wolf, so he shifts back to human.

Once again, it takes much longer than usual, too long. He's barely stumbled back to his feet, tugging his pants up when the first shot hits him in the leg, just above his right knee. He crashes back down on the ground with a cry, but he grits his teeth against the pain and stands back up and tries to make a run for the trees. The bullet's gone through and he should heal in a matter of minutes, maybe half an hour with the wolfsbane, if he makes it to the forest—

The second shot gets him in the middle of his back and, this time, he goes down and doesn't stand back up. He just lies there, on the cold ground, choking on his own blood and listening to Jones's steps hesitantly getting closer.

He passes out before she gets to him.

At least this time, the clothes getting ruined are Liam's.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

He’s having another nightmare, but this one feels different. He usually has perfect recall, but of this one he can only grasp bits and pieces, something digging into his back rather than his front. Whispers into his ears, but it doesn't sound like his sister. He thinks he might be crying at some point, his cheeks are wet in any case.

The fingers have gone from his back now, but there are other fingers. They seem kinder, though. A cool hand at the back of his neck, moving him.

Cool water against his lips and he drinks, fresh water mixed with the metallic taste of blood and more words whispered, but he doesn't understand.

He sleeps.

  
  


* * *

 

 

He gets a rough awakening. They must have gone over a pothole or something in the road, because he gets jostled and bumps his head in the window. He blinks to try and make sense of his surrounding, but quickly squeezes his eyes shut as pain shoots behind and through his left eye, as if someone had shoved a spike in. The migraine is blinding and it churns his stomach. He's pretty sure hitting his head has got nothing to do with it.

"You're awake," Jones's voice is stuffy and nasal. Good, looks like he's done some damage there after all.

He only offers a grunt in response and slowly squints his right eye open. He's in the passenger seat, he's barefoot and his hands are duct-taped to the door handle, but he's otherwise unhindered. Not that it'd help much right now, anyway. Not with the migraine, and not with the way he feels, like he's underwater, and with his skin alternating between feeling too hot and too cold. The tips of his fingers and toes are tingling and he can barely feel them. He shifts in his seat and clenches and unclenches his fists, wiggles his toes, but it doesn't seem to be a problem of the tape being too tight or his feet being still for too long.

They’re not in his truck anymore, either.

Jones isn't in good shape, when he turns to look at her. Her nose is red and puffy, with a wad of cotton or tissue sticking out of her left nostril. Unfortunately, it doesn't look broken, but her left eye is bruised black and has swelled up to barely more than a bloodshot slit.

He opens both eyes, despite the spike wedged in his head, and smirks. "Looking good."

She shoots him a disgusted look. “This would be much easier if you cooperated.”

“I told you the truth,” he grimaces. He curls against the door, leaning his forehead against the coolness of the window. It’s not much, but he feels a little less feverish. “Not my fault you didn’t like it.”

“You’re telling me you didn’t learn anything?” The disbelief is palpable in her voice. “That you don’t remember anything? Even the smallest thing?”

“Nothing that’ll help you,” he grinds out. Plenty that’ll keep her up at night

The window is suddenly too cold and he jolts back, falling against the back of the seat and breaking out in a cold sweat. He’s shaking so hard that his teeth start chattering. His joints ache and the migraine is getting worse. There’s something really, really wrong here. He fights the nausea down, the bitter taste of bile at the back of his throat. “Did you take out the bullet?”

He hears the rustling as she turns to presumably look at him. “Of course,” she says, as if even the suggestion of being such an amateur as to leave bullets inside closing wound. She must have missed some fragment, though, likely wolfsbane-coated, because this feels like wolfsbane poisoning.

He squints at his hands, but the skin looks normal, if a little pale and clammy so he tries to catch his eyes in the side mirror, next. It takes a moment to find a position that lets him see himself, they way he’s essentially duct-taped to the door. He squints at his reflection, half blinded by pain. The Theo staring back is most certainly not in a good shape: hair matted with sweat and plastered to his forehead, face pale except the splotchy red spots on his cheeks. His eyes are half-lidded and feverish.

Except he doesn’t get sick.

“You drugged me.”

“You kicked me in the face, be glad you’re not chained down in the trunk.” She takes a deep breath and then she goes on, her voice less sharp, though certainly not with the kindness from earlier. “Are you thirsty?”

He certainly is, not to mention he can’t remember the last time he had anything to eat. Come to think of it, he doesn’t even know how much time has passed since Liam...Liam, who likely thinks he’s left of his own accord.

It’s still dark and they seem to be on some back road winding through the forest. The forest looks familiar, so they must still be close to Beacon Hills, still in the county at least. Even at full strength, it’d be hard to break free from the duct tape securing him to the door handle, but if he manages to get his claws out while Jones isn’t looking...

He parts his lips slightly and breathes in softly so the air dries his already cottony mouth. “I could drink,” he croaks out, voice rough. The throat clearing he adds at the end might be overkill, but it soon turns into a genuine bout of coughing and, though it leaves him breathless and light-headed by the time it’s passed, it seems to convince Jones, who’s already pulling over.

She reaches in the door compartment and comes up with a half-empty bottle of water. She carefully unscrews it and holds it in the space between them. They remain like that for a long moment, Jones looking at him, the eyebrow of her good eye raised, while Theo scowls at her, if only to sell his reluctance.

“You want the water or shall I put it away?”

With a growl, he pitches forward, almost jostling the bottle. She’s quick to avoid the collision, though, drawing back at the last moment. He’s now stretched as far as his bound wrists let him, positioned so his body obscures what his hands are doing. Getting his claw out takes concentration, which isn’t normal at all but can easily be a side-effect of the wolfsbane still in his body.

He manages to slice through some of the duct tape, before Jones seems to get tired of his antics and grabs his hair in a tight grip to pull his head back, tearing a grunt of pain that’s not fictional at all out of Theo, and then she more or less shoves the bottle in his mouth.

The water is cool and fresh and tastes _wrong_.

He sputters and pulls back, breaking out of Jones’s grip and colliding with the car door, all his weight landing painfully on his right arm. He coughs out and spits what he can, but that first gulp was big enough to have worrying consequences, if indeed the water’s laced with wolfsbane.

“Are you _actually_ trying to kill me?” He growls at her in between coughs.

Jones narrows her eyes at him, or well, _one_ eye. The other is pretty much permanently narrowed right now. “Don’t be so dramatic.” She puts the cap back on the bottle and stashes it away. There’s still a good amount left. “It’s only a small amount. Not enough to do any real damage, but just to make a werewolf more...manageable.”

Theo laughs, it’s a loud and harsh sound in the small confines of the car. He shakes with the laughter and then he shakes with the coughing. It sounds wet. He feels something trickle down his chin, it could be water, but it’s likely not, judging by the look on Jones’s face.

He rubs his chin against his shoulder. His borrowed hoodie is dark, but he can still make out the wet dark gray stain when he tilts his head down. “But see,” Theo says, “I’m not a werewolf.”

  


* * *

 

 

By the time they screech to a stop in the gas station service area, Theo is shivering and coughing non stop, scattering oily black flecks over everything, his clothes, himself, the dashboard, the window against which he’s now leaning just to find a reprieve from the feverish haze that’s muffling all his senses.

Jones says something at him, her voice is loud, he can’t really concentrate on the words, but he gets the gist of it. He’s to stay put while she goes and buys some stuff. Maybe more water with which to drug him, maybe he’s going to get clean water, he doesn’t really know. What he knows is that she’s left the car door open, the headlight reminder chime even more annoying than usual to Theo’s sensitive ears.

He tugs and tugs at the small slice he made in the duct-tape earlier until he hears the sound of ripping. He grips the handle and shoves with all of his weight against the car door. He manages to get it open on the second try, or rather, he wrenches it open and he spills out on the asphalt like a ragdoll, dragged by the wrist still attached to the handle. The door bounces back and he just about avoids getting hit in the face.

The sudden, jerky movement sends him finally over the edge and he’s violently sick. He hasn’t eaten anything of note and he’s only drank water, so it shouldn’t really be much, except what comes out of his mouth is a gooey mass of spittle and green-black oily substance. Its foul smell only nauseates him more, the back of his throat working through the spasms.

There’s a loud curse and then Jones is right _there_ , shoving him back into the car and closing the door in his face, knocking him back and then she’s around the car and into the driver’s seat and with a slam the headlights chime is abruptly cut off and the engine roars and they’re back on the road—

With one hand still taped to the door he doesn’t have that much leeway, but still he lunges to grab the wheel from her. Jones tries to fight him off, elbowing him in the face while trying to steer the car. He spits a black, disgusting mass at her and she recoils back in revulsion, just for a moment, but it’s enough for him to pull on the wheel sharply. The car swerves and the tire screech and scream.

They come to a stop in the middle of the road.

He lets out a cry and with a final tug, his right wrist comes free. He can’t see much with his eyes watering and his head feels dangerously light, but he doubts he’ll get another chance like this. He lounges at her before she can get to the gun that he knows is stored under the driver seat.

The claws on his right hand are still out, more because of his lack of control thanks to the wolfsbane than actual foresight on his part. Jones is quick to throw her left arm up and he only manages to scratch her.

Her right hand comes out, clutching what looks like a small metal tube that leaves him puzzled for only a fraction of second, until the burning spray is released right into his face.

He howls and jerks back, hitting his side painfully against the dashboard, eyes burning fiercely. Jones cries in pain too — she should really know better than discharge pepper spray in such a small environment — but the burning in his eyes is too fierce for Theo to properly appreciate it.

Still cursing, Jones grabs his hair and slams his head on the dashboard once, twice and then he passes out.

  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

He wakes up in the dark.

He’s lying on his side in a cramped space barely wide enough for the width of his shoulder, heavy chains bound his wrists and his ankles and Jones has been liberal with the application of duct tape besides. There’s a chain around his neck too.

His head is much clearer though, and it takes him only a moment to register the vibrations of the engine and the fact that they seem to be traveling along a smooth road, most likely at high speed.

The highway, then.

From the brief, confused, glimpse he got of the car and assuming they haven’t swapped vehicles again, the model is too old to have an emergency trunk release and the way he’s lying, he doesn’t have enough leeway to kick with enough force.

It takes him what feels like a long time, being careful not to choke himself in the process, but he finally manages to twist around so that he’s facing towards the inside of the car. He kicks out with his legs and, though his accuracy is hindered by them being securely tied at the ankles, it’s only a couple of tries before he manages to kick out one of the taillights.

The darkness gives way to a dim light. It’s daytime, then. He’s been gone for at least half a day, if not more.

He carefully doesn’t speculate on likeliness that there’s somebody out there looking for him and hopes, for the first time in his life, that they get stopped by a cop.

He kicks out one of the taillights and hopes they get stopped by a zealous cop.

Pepper spray. Seriously.

He misses Knife Girl.

  
  


* * *

 

 

Theo knows he’s tired, but the extent of his exhaustion is only evident when he’s suddenly awaken by bright light, so sharp that it temporarily blinds him. He rears back instinctively, bumping his shoulders against the frame of the trunk. Through the haze, it takes him a long moment to realize that he’s staring up at a policeman in uniform and, behind him, almost blotted out by the glare of the sun, a frowning and beat up Jones.

He tries to sit up, but the chain at his neck pulls taut and keeps him from raising more than a few inches off the floor of the trunk. He lets out a shout, choked on account of the chain, and he tries to sit up, but is once again hindered by the chain.

It’s only then that he registers the glassy vacant gaze of the police officer.

“As you can see, everything is in order,” Jones says, right behind the man’s shoulder. He words come out slightly forced and she seems to be sweating. With the bruises on her face she’s not a pretty sight.

“Everything is in order,” the police officer echoes, tonelessly.

“No, it’s really not!” Theo growls at him. With some effort, he manages to sit up.

“Good day,” Jones says, grinning in a tight grimace. “You can go, now.”

“Good day,” the police officer — Conner his name tag reads — repeats. He takes a few steps back, gaze straight ahead. “You can go, now.” He turns around and makes his robotic way to his patrol car.

Jones takes his place in front of the trunk. In her hand, she’s clutching a familiar glass cylinder. She’s looking down at him, but her eyes can’t seem to focus down on him, remaining fixed on a vague point near his crotch instead. “I hope you’re satisfied,” she tells his dick.

Theo is so taken aback by the turn of events that he freezes in his efforts to sit up.

The patrol car speeds off and her fist crushes the glass vial. Jones’s eyes refocus suddenly and she blinks before looking up at him sharply. She looks vaguely embarrassed.

“I mean,” she clears her throat. “That was my last charm. You’re proving to be more hassle than previously anticipated. I really hope you’re worth it.”

Ah yes, vaguely threatening language, back to familiar territory. “I’m really not. Just ask anyone,” he leans back in what would like to be an easy sprawl, but he’s hindered by the chains and the duct tape and the frankly cramped car trunk.

She growls under her breath and clears the remains of glass and whatever else is in her invisibility charms off her hands. “I’m trying really hard to make you as comfortable as I possibly can,” she says, which is frankly a big fat lie — see cramped car trunk. Also chains. “But you’re really testing me.”

Where are we? Past the state lines? Just let me go and I’ll go my way, never look back. There’s nothing here that’s of use to you.”

“Not until you tell me about the research.”

“There’s nothing left! Why does no one believe me when I’m telling the truth?!” He slumps back with a sigh. He has to squint up at her against the glare of the sun. “Look. Even if there were something left...what would you do with it? You want to tell you’re gonna go around kidnapping kids and experimenting on them?” She has kids, that’s the way to lean on. “The mortality rate is pretty high, you know. Almost 100%.”

Even as a dark silhouette against the sun, he sees the way she tenses, if not the grimace on her face. “I’m not interested in whatever sick stuff those...Dread Doctors were into. I’m only interested in the part that would make a werewolf immune to mountain ash.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He’s shouting now, but there’s no use. There’s only the two of them here. “You _can’’t_ make a werewolf immune to mountain ash!”

“But you are!”

He sits up suddenly, but only manages to roll and fall forward on his face. “I am not a werewolf!” he screams into the car trunk floor. It’s dirty and dusty and it makes his nose and throat itch.

She slams the trunk closed.

He sneezes.

  


 

* * *

  
  
  


He has flashes of someone giving him water, water that tastes foul. When he refuses, the hands pinch his nose and he drinks.

He feels thirsty, but knows he can’t drink the water, he’s still forced to.

He’s in the dark, shivering with cold and then heat. Sometimes shivering so hard the chain hanging from his neck rattles.

Metal against metal in the dark. He thinks he hears someone whisper his name.

At some point he’s taken out of the trunk and he’s half-lead, half-supported to some building. It takes him a while to realize it must be daytime, from the warmth on his skin, he can barely see shapes and shadows.

He’s brought somewhere big, that echoes. Somewhere silent. He’s sat down against a wall, cold tiles against his cheek. He tries moving, movements halting and clumsy, but at some point his chain pulls taut.

His nose feels sensitive and he hasn’t been able to smell anything of note for a while now, but there’s something, barely noticeable, a clinical smell. Disinfectant? It’s more the memory of a smell than an actual smell, his brain filling in the blanks with what it knows.

It smells like a laboratory from a lifetime ago.

  
  


* * *

 

 

He wakes up tired, tired and thirsty.

His whole body aches, especially his abdominal area. The muscles there likely overused by the constant heaving without enough time for his healing factor to kick in a timely fashion.

He's also the most lucid he's been in what feels like days but is likely only been hours.

His stomach lets out a growl, hungry despite the still lingering nausea.

So maybe it's been at least one day.

He's lying on his left side on a cold, tiled floor. It's dark and from the limited view of his current position he can't see any windows. The air is cool and dry and there's the  He tries to keep perfectly still as he takes in his surroundings, but he must have made a noise or a slight movement in between unconsciousness and wakefulness because the shadows move in the corner of his eye and there's the sound of steps getting closer.

He keeps his eyes stubbornly half closed and, through his eyelashes, he catches a glimpse of heavy boots and jeans and then shins and knees and Jones's bruised face as she crouches to peer down at him. She squints at him with a grimace of pain. Good. He hopes he broken her damn nose.

"I know you're awake."

He coughs in her face. Something slimy and bitter crawls up from his throat. She makes a disgusted sound and jumps quickly back. He hopes he's managed to get some on her, it's only fair.

He tilts his head up, as much as he can, and watches as she hastily cleans her face with the sleeve of her jacket. He doesn't bother hiding his snort.

She glares at him. "And here I was, bringing you water and food." Only then Theo notices the bottle of water and the small paper bag clutched in her other hand. His sense of smell is fucked right now, likely even by human standards, but he catches the unmistakable smell of fast food hamburger.

His stomach growls loudly again. "Wolfsbane water?" He eyes the bottle carefully, but from this far away, there's no telling whether it's been tampered with.

"No." She looks away first, shuffles her feet, almost embarrassed. "I may have gone overboard with that."

"No shit."

"It's not like you were the most collaborative person."

"You _kidnapped_ me," he raises his voice, but it becomes strained. He coughs more of the disgusting stuff and feels it spatter his lips, drip down his chin. "Imagine that."

She doesn't reply to that, her face twisted in such a grimace that Theo thinks she’s about to just up and leave, taking the the food and water with her. It’s only a second, though, she seems to deflate all at once. She sighs and sits down, sprawling back against the wall out of his reach. Her head hangs low, muffling her words almost to the point of making them inaudible. “I’m tired.”

That’s certainly one thing they have in common.

“Funny how life turns out.” Theo takes in his current circumstances. The small room that might have been a bathroom once upon a time, their dirty and bloodied clothes, the chain around his neck, their bruises. “I should be dead, you know. A year ago, I was. It seems the universe is righting that wrong.”

Jones scoffs and even without looking at her, he can feel the eyeroll in her tone. “You’ve been really testing my patience, but I don’t want to kill you. _Really_.” She gives him a long look, then she rolls the water bottle towards him. The broken, uneven floor alter its course so that it rolls away and far from Theo’s reach.

It bumps against the far wall and changed trajectory again until it comes to a stop, on the other side of the room. They contemplate the forlorn sight in silence for a long moment before bursting into laughter at the same time. It’s loud and startling, echoing of despair rather than mirth, and it cuts off as suddenly as it came into being.

Jones groans as she stands up. She strides to the bottle and scoops it up. “A year ago,” she says, as if trying to recall an impossibly far away memory. On her way back, she drops both water and food within Theo’s reach, before sliding down to sit on the floor. “A year ago, Nick was alive.”

Theo grabs the water before it can roll away and it takes him a moment before he realizes that she’s sitting closer now, within reach.

“A year ago, the world made sense.” It’s barely above a whisper, words twisted like a painful admission.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he says, sincerely, just as his fingers close around her wrist.

She startles back, but he keeps the hold, even as she tugs her arm back, even as she grabs his wrist with her other hand. She grunts and he echoes with his own, just as the black tendrils run down her forearm and up his. She stops, then, startled for a whole different reason.

She stares at the black of their veins. “They’ll be sorry,” she says. She’s shaking. She lets go of wrist and makes a fist, her pain flowing into him like a storm, dark and howling, but still the only way for him to learn, to _know_.

“You’ll regret this,” Theo tells her, because someone should. He wishes someone had told him, though he wouldn’t have listened anyway. “All this you’re doing won’t amount to anything and you’ll be just left with yourself. With what you’ve done and what you’ve become.”

Some monsters are born, he thinks, some are created. Some are just scared kids or people who’ve lost everything. They are all monsters in the end.

It doesn’t mean they’re still not human, though.

“I don’t care,” she says. “I want my enemies destroyed.”

He lets go and slumps down, exhausted and raw, while she scrambles back and then up, legs unsteady. She’s panting as if she’s just run a marathon and she’s staring down at him, eyes wide and terrified. She’s crying, he notices.

“I don’t care,” she repeats, almost a shout this time.

“But he would,” he tells her, because that’s what Scott McCall would say.

“I don’t care,” she says again, in a hushed tone, eyes wide and startled as she looks down at him.

The thing is, she sounds sincere and he can always tell. He nods. “You don’t,” he says, because he’s Theo Raeken and he’s the only one here.

She winces as if he’s just stuck her, stumbles back and then turns away from him, hands covering her mouth in horror as she hurries away, almost bouncing off of the doorjamb.

Jones disappears from his view and becomes the echoing sounds of steps that fade away in the distance, the slamming of a door and then there’s only silence and him.

  
  


* * *

 

 

And a cooling bag of greasy McDonald’s burger, because in the whole taking the pain away thing, he must have struck the bottle of water, making it roll away from him again. He devours the burger, disgusting and the most delicious thing he’s ever had at the same time, and regrets it as soon as he’s finished, his throat parched.

He stares at the bottle of water, lying so enticingly out of reach, and wonders if Jones is ever coming back even as he already knows the answer to that.

After what must be hours, he’s willing to settle even for the foul wolfsbane water, but there’s no change, no sound.

He comes awake with a start. There are no windows and no light filtering in, so he can’t tell how much time he’s been out, but the sluggish way his thoughts occur to him makes him realize that he doesn’t really have much time to waste on sleep, when he’s getting weaker by the second.

He pulls on the chain with all he can muster, but it seems his physical strength is waning too. Either that or Jones enchanted the chain somehow, he wouldn’t put it past her. He takes a moment to gather his breath and then starts in on again on the chain, pulling and tugging, until his palms are raw and his muscles scream in pain and his throat and mouth are on fire.

He slumps against the wall to catch his breath, fighting to keep down a sudden wave of nausea. He’s tired, exhaustion reaching deep into his bones, and he’s assaulted by memories of a warm bed and the smell of blood, but also Liam’s scent surrounding him, the absolute calm crystalized in that moment.

He’s never felt homesick before.

It’s a disheartening realization to have here, in the dark.

 


End file.
